A Different Kind of Couple
by Shutupnkissme313
Summary: Planning on shaking up the 2nd Season as the death of Graham forces Sarah to make a decision to truly trust Chuck. A word of warning that this story will not be for everybody. I would ask to read the first three chapters before deciding. Rated T for language, sexual situations, and Bryce beating.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: This is Charah set at the end of First Date and progresses from there. Do not own Chuck or its wonderful characters.**_

 **A Different Kind of Couple**

"You're early," Chuck teased as he opened the door.

"I'm sorry Chuck, but we can't go on our date tonight." Sarah watched as there was an immediate head droop followed by putting on his brave front. Thinking it's about him when it has almost always been her shortcomings. Unconsciously a tear pricked at the corner of her eye knowing the explanation is just going to hurt him more, but with this comes a moment of true courage for her and she makes a major decision. As she lifts his face back to meet hers, "No Chuck, this has nothing to do with you or me. The cipher was a Trojan horse… Graham along with five agents were killed in the explosion." She made sure to lock onto his eyes and noticed his inevitable shift towards guilt from feeling sorry for himself while others had just been killed.

Chuck noticed the corner of her eye and instinctively brushed the tear away, before surprising her again by pulling her in for a hug, "I'm sorry that I always seem to react this way (deep breath), I know Graham was your boss, were you close?" putting no accusation in his voice.

"I guess so, he was the person who brought me into the CIA, but… that wasn't the reason for the tear. Chuck, there's something I need to tell you but it can't be done here."

Noting her not so subtle clue, "Ok, do you want to go to our spot on the beach?"

Just hearing him say 'our spot' made her heart leap with joy and the resulting smile showed it, "No, I have to go to Castle in order to get the full briefing on what happened. Come to my room tomorrow morning and we can talk there."

"Ok Sarah, I'll bring breakfast."

"Great." She said enthusiastically, before stepping up and kissing him. Unlike the frantic kiss in front of the Bryce bomb this one had control; however it still contained a soaring amount of passion with the intensity of the kiss stating love rather than need. When their lips parted neither was able to fully contain what they both felt and it showed in their faces. Seeing their feelings reflected on the other's face fed into their smiles further. Sarah took a small step backwards into the courtyard as the doorframe held Chuck up. Both just grinning and unable to look away from one another; until Sarah felt the blush creep onto her cheeks and was barely able to whisper, "Goodnight Chuck," before turning she heard his whispered reply and heard the door close. She was able to maintain this high until she sat down in her Porsche at which point terror overtook her as she realized that could be the last kiss she has with him and she would not blame him one bit.

* * *

After the door closed it took a few minutes for the synapses to start fully firing once again for Chuck. Once they did there was the immediate attempt to overanalyze the situation; finding the negative connotation he can attach to it. For the first time in a long while Chuck did not succumb to those thoughts; because there really wasn't anything negative that he could conceive of from what just happened. Granted there were dead agents, but her otherwise normally mixed signals weren't there. Her not wanting to talk here, if what she needed to say were to push him away again it would be far more prudent to do it within the NSA/CIA earshot instead of making it private. His mood not swayed from his brain adding in its two cents, he quickly wrapped the dinner placing it in the refrigerator and cleared the table leaving a note for Ellie that if she and Devon hadn't eaten after their shift they were welcome to his famous chicken pepperoni and that he was meeting Sarah first thing in the morning. Finishing that there was nothing else he could think of doing so he went about his bedtime routine and despite it being hours before he would usually go to bed; upon hitting the pillow fell completely asleep his dreams filled with loving thoughts about his kick ass ninja.

* * *

From the second she descended into Castle she could tell something was off. Casey was a little more brusque than usual, but the way his fingers were fidgeting showed that he was nervous about something. The debriefing did nothing to ease her mind as there was something different about both Casey and Beckman's attitude and it had nothing to do with the death of Graham. At best they considered him a respected colleague when in reality they were both wary enough to watch their backs around him at all times.

Before signing off Beckman was polite and considerate to her. While there were potential reasons: she had been called in certain circles Graham's enforcer; perhaps interpreting that as thinking her his protégé and that his loss would affect her more deeply than it had. Another reason was now this appeared to be strictly an NSA run op and she being CIA, Beckman wanted to act proactively to avoid the crap that brings down most interagency operations. A mixture of both would make the most sense, but the overriding feeling she was getting from the both of them was guilt and there were two reasons she could immediately come up with for that. First was the NSA planting the cipher and blowing up Graham and the new Intersects. The problem with that was if that was their plan it was stupid; doing that left everything back on Chuck and even with Casey's softening towards him she knew despite the surprising number of adventures they've been able to have he wanted back in the field full time and not hocking grills wearing a green shirt. Also Beckman was a stickler for procedure and Chuck for all his positive attributes, following military protocols was not one of them and that would drive her insane. That wasn't logical or practical and Beckman was both of those which left the second option.

The subsequent rage blinded Sarah for a moment; channeling that aggression had been a strong suit. Her strongest was being able to maintain a fairly calm disposition while allowing that aggression to allow her to 'Hulk up'. Even in her current state of confusion trying to see how all the pieces fit her nerd was able to bring a smile to her face. The momentary peace allowed her to realize one of her worst fears was almost realized.

Casey had observed his partner scrutinizing both the General and himself; so he immediately tried to leave exclaiming he had to rush home to monitor Chuck. When Sarah grabbed his arm on the stairs and turned him around he glared at her, but she did not give a millimeter.

"He thinks of you as a friend. If you think you deserve that trust then you will tell him what was supposed to happen tonight."

Casey hardened his features, but his eyes slightly drooped; the look on her face said she caught the slight tell, he let out a breath, "I suppose if I don't then you will."

"Not right away. There is something that I must know. Did Graham know about this?"

"Does it matter now?"

Sarah took a deep breath as this would solidify his concerns about her impartiality, "Yes, I had a deal with him that I would go back to the CIA and finish out my tour after this assignment as long as Chuck and his family were kept out of a bunker and safe."

Casey was a little surprised at the depth of her compromised state and as the events of the evening replayed in his mind made a vow to himself to help protect them however he could, because despite their intelligence, both were completely clueless when it came to relationships. The thought calmed him until he remembered he hadn't answered her question yet and the concerned look on her face shook him. "It's easy to say now, but you need to know this is the truth. I argued against the order. Until Graham pounded the desk threatening to send somebody else to do the job; I finally agreed to it. I couldn't let some moron come in and mess it up. Chuck serves this country with honor; he deserved to have it be as quick and painless as possible."

Sarah silently nodded, as her face hardened she released Casey's arm and although it didn't register his retreat was the fastest she had ever seen the big guy move. The realization Graham would lie about this, to her, made her consider what else he decided to lie to her about. One promise in particular, the one she based her post-CIA life on consumed the majority of her thoughts and that weighed heavily on the Agent portion of her mind trying to convince her not to go through with tomorrow. Her normal way to quell the churning emotions was to work out and despite the exhausting two hour workout she put herself through her Porsche's steering wheel found itself for the second time tonight as the shoulder Sarah leaned onto as she released the remnants of her emotions.

Making her way back to Maison 23, she had no idea if there was anybody at the desk or even in the building; spy instinct locked her door and although the shower physically relaxed her muscles her brain was still working overtime as she completed her bedtime routine. Staring at her darkened ceiling her mind was conducting one of the most brutal battles to determine which side would finally gain control. The emotional, along with the physical, toll she'd undergone in the past few hours finally was forcing her to sleep. Just before she succumbed her tongue traced her lips immediately bringing back the kiss to the forefront and pushing everything else aside. The curling of her lips occurred as she fell soundly asleep and only increased as the only dreams afforded to her were those of her potential baggage carrier.

 _ **A/N: Chuck vs. Ellie is still being finished. I was not happy with either of my endings so I took some time away from it and started back on this one as it seemed to fit. As always thanks to those who read and review.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N:**_ Italics _ **will be used to designate thoughts.**_

 **A Different Kind of Couple**

 **Chapter Two**

There are people who believe that even when you are fully asleep you can be so attuned with your surroundings that you will wake up from a deep sleep just before a fire alarm or phone call, this was not one of those times.

The knock on her door was neither harsh nor one insistent upon answering immediately, it was melodic and light. Sarah using what Chuck would come to call her CSP (Chuck sensory perception), threw back her covers, put on her robe and opened the door without looking.

"Good morning Chuck. Isn't it a little early?" Sarah was a little surprised at first as she didn't feel her face make the customary smile in response to Chuck's mega-watt one. She tentatively reached up and felt the corner of her mouth and tracing around her lips told her smile would make the Cheshire Cat say, 'That's a damn big smile!' The resulting blush correlated with a multitude of thoughts racing in her head: _I probably look like the Joker, although that would be a potential Halloween costume for next year as long as Chuck was Batman he'd have me in his batcuffs while I loosen his utility belt… Chuck fantasy base updated… oh no… bathroom now_

"Chuck, come in I just need to go to the bathroom and make myself presentable." With that Sarah scurried off.

Chuck stayed in the threshold for a moment cataloguing what just happened and cautiously stepped inside her room closing the door with his foot as he held two bags in one hand and a cardboard carrier holding four cups in the other. He made his way to her tiny kitchenette area and placed the contents on her counter, quickly looking in the bags making sure nothing was damaged. Satisfied with that he again cautiously approached her bathroom door.

"Sarah, honestly you don't have to do any primping and I probably say this so often it seems silly, but just now you were the most breathtaking I think you have ever been. So you don't need to go to any trouble especially for me." Chuck paused for a moment and hearing a sniffle, "Are you ok? Do you want me to just let you do what you have to in peace?"

After a moment, "No Chuck, it sounds like there's a story you want to tell so go ahead."

"Ok, well I might have been a little excited as I got to the bakery just before they opened and had to wait a while as I found out something I didn't want to know. The chocolate croissants are initially the ones they don't sell the previous day, so when they tried to push those on me I kind of… got a little mad and said 'you don't show up at a bakery at 5:30 in order to get what you couldn't sell the previous day'. They said it would be at least another half hour before their fresh croissants would be ready. I left to get that Sobe Life Water that you've been trying to get me to drink and a small assortment of berries and some cream before making it back there in time to see the croissants come out and get dipped. I picked up the coffee from the place around the corner that you like and voila. Of course coming up the elevator I realized that I was tempting fate; hoping that my meager tributes would be enough to make up for the earliness of my arrival." Hearing a loud sigh, Chuck retrenched with, "Sarah, I didn't mean anything it's just I've learned that it isn't wise to disrupt the sleep of a goddess."

"Chuck, I'm not a goddess." Chuck cringed as he hadn't realized that slipped out, "If you want to set everything up on the table by the window that would be great, but just please keep the drapes closed."

Chuck went about setting everything up; grabbing some napkins as well as two plates, bowls, and spoons and brought everything to the small table. After finishing he was just clearing the bags and instinctively reached for the drapes stopping himself as he remembered her request. As he turned around he heard the door open and without her usual grace Sarah stepped out and stood in front of her bed. Letting out a soft gasp and a weary smile as she looked at Chuck's meager tributes a single tear began to roll down her face. Chuck started to stand from his seat and Sarah waved him back.

"No, Chuck although I'm not fine right now I need you to sit down so I can do this. You have been so patient even though I have not let you in as much as I would want to. When I said I had baggage I think you will understand better after this. Most importantly know that you are the first person that I have ever told this to."

Chuck brightened at Sarah's words until he saw the fear in her eyes, he grabbed the arms of the chair in order to remain seated, "It's ok Sarah you can tell me."

"Unfortunately Chuck, words aren't always my strongest point so an action is required." Sarah untied her robe, "Chuck, my birth name is Sam." With that she opened her robe.

Chuck's eyes immediately darted up, but eventually curiosity and as this was the woman of his dreams inviting him to do so his eyes slowly began to work their way back down. Looking at her pained expression he stated, "Sarah, there's nothing wrong with Sam, our first somewhat conversation was about names that our parents…" Chuck stopped as while the robe was still covering a good portion of her he still gulped as the curvature of her breasts were visible and making his way past her taut abdomen he gulped again as he reached her pubic region when his eyes almost popped out of his head as there was a small, but erect penis. Chuck's mind blanked, but he was able to blurt out, "You were right, this wasn't right for our beach."

The first thought that made its way to the forefront was this was a cruel joke; his heart completely broke as he awaited Casey popping out of the bathroom or closet. That they would go to these extremes just to drive home the fact he and Sarah could not be together overwhelmed him; he placed his head in his hands waiting for the moment. As more time passed and Casey did not appear the next thought that this was real came charging forth. Looking over at Sarah completely tensed, her fists balled so tightly they were turning white, tears streaming down her face that was radiating pure anguish. Chuck knew the truth, but confirmed it as he looked down again and saw her umm… was now flaccid. He did also notice that Sarah was slowly swaying and quickly looking up her face was serene and Chuck was, as always, mesmerized by it causing him to miss the swaying move onto teetering until she fell backwards. The bed initially broke her fall, but she started to slide down which is when Chuck leapt from the chair.

Until the moment she opened her robe, Sarah was still attempting to come up with anything else to tell Chuck. _Christ sakes he was willing to settle for a middle name and the first secret you're going to give him is this… No, building up to it would be the mistake, there's no sense in waiting, getting even closer only to have the heartbreak be that much worse… Please Chuck, I trust you._ "My birth name is Sam."

After opening her robe she took in a breath and waited. After his initial statement about the beach she inwardly laughed and became hopeful as there was no animosity laced in his response. However as more time passed and the silence continued her mind began to process: _Chuck babbles when he is nervous or surprised or concerned or happy… is he mad?_ Sarah opened an eye and saw Chuck tensed with his head in his hands. _He is angry. Did I wait too long? Does he think I am throwing this in his face to hurt him? No, he is disgusted by me. He_. _Hates. Me. Go to your instincts and run. It doesn't matter where just get away from the pain._

Sarah kept her eyes clenched tight; having no idea where she was except she was feeling woozy, from that weariness she began to feel the pain drift away and she relaxed. This moment of contentedness was amplified from no longer being tethered to her body as she was floating. The concerns and responsibilities no longer present fell into place with an all encompassing warmth that she never wanted to leave. The drops of water on her head began to bring her back; fearful that she had somehow made it outside and was caught in a small rain. However as the fogginess lifted she kept her eyes shut, but still understood where the warmth was coming from and hearing his plea for her to start breathing because he was sorry and didn't know how he could go on without her made her press the side of her face into his chest and wrap her arms around him.

Chuck momentarily stiffened as Sarah hug surprised him, but relief surged through him as he felt her chest expand and contract. As he allowed himself to calm down, he could sense they were breathing at the same time. At this point with the crisis averted his mind began to form questions and counters to the potential answers and potential scenarios from this added development was only confusing him and he could feel a headache coming on. There was one important thing that he had to do and there wasn't a rational reason why, but he needed to look into Sarah's eyes. Since she was relaxed it was easier than Chuck expected to pry her off him, however it still took all his strength, both physical and mental as the pout she displayed almost made him pull her back in.

Sarah lowered her head soon after losing contact with Chuck, his hand cupping her chin and bringing it up finally forced her to open her eyes. They contained fear, but with more than a trace of hope which was buoyed from Chuck's eyes filled with both caring and concern. Sarah's attempt to answer and thank him was to give him a kiss.

Chuck delicately rebuffed her approach, "Sarah, I'm not gay."

"I'm not gay either."

"But… Sarah, I still care about you, but I don't know what I'm feeling right now other than shock. I do still want to be your friend. What is it that you want?"

"I want to be a woman and… I want to be with you." Tears again began to fill Sarah's eyes and Chuck wrapped her back up in a hug.

"Friends can hug." Chuck wanly defended.

"I'm glad for that." A smile crept back onto Sarah's face, "I know you have a lot of questions and I'm horrible at revealing my past, but I am going to try. Do you think you can hold off until after we eat? I am drained right now."

"I'm feeling drained as well, but I have to ask one question: you said I'm the first person you've told, how have you been able to keep this secret, or is this something that people know and not talk about, does Beckman and Casey know, Carina?..."

Sarah paled as the talk of the other spies knowing which answered that portion of Chuck's question. "I'm not sure this answers it or not, but you are the first person I have told and I have tried to keep this from everybody, but there are a few people who know and I will get to those people after breakfast. I will say this; my recruitment into the CIA was unique… not quite as unique as your introduction into the spy life. My father is a multitude of things, but he did set up an account which was going to be used for my procedures. The problem is the money in there was gotten illegally and Graham was part of the team that arrested him. He was lurking around by my emergency getaway stash as I dug it up and after whizzing a knife past his head; he offered me a chance to finish the training my father had started. I still doubt my dad told him, but he knew about me and the account. He promised me that he would let me have the money, but it would be put in a different account and would direct part of my salary to the fund as long as I joined the CIA."

"How much more do you need?"

"I don't know. I never had access to the account, let alone know what bank it was in… With him gone I have no idea if he kept his word." Sarah deflated after saying this and Chuck in response gave her another hug and helped her to her feet. After verifying she was able to stand and move he pulled out her chair at the table and was rewarded with a small smile as she said thanks and sat down. Chuck went back to his chair and they quietly went about eating their breakfast, thankful for the tiny break from this emotional whirlwind.

 _ **A/N: Yes I did go there. I could have stopped at the reveal, but thought more needed to be said. FYI: I am not on any soapbox with this and this was one of the stories I had been working on before Christmas Carol and Bruce Jenner's revelation only wanted me to push this back. While feedback won't change the story it will possibly play a factor in how quickly I finish this one. If there is no interest I'll end it fairly quickly, otherwise we'll go through season 2 and see how this changes things. A little warning while I will try to stay close to canon I cannot guarantee it. Looking forward to the reviews on this. Thanks for reading.**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: Thanks to those continuing with this story. I hope to reward your faith. Sarah is going to share her past and then we can go to the episodes. There is a part that will deal with forced sex; I will try to avoid making this into an 'M' story as I don't want to go into any more detail than is necessary.**_

 **A Different Kind of Couple**

 **Chapter 3**

The room was completely silent save for the associated noises with eating. It wasn't awkward as both put their entire focus on the meal in front of them, each knowing they needed time to not dwell too much about what just happened. Sarah went into the bathroom to change into yoga pants and a tank top. In a Pavlovian response Chuck was about to say how good Sarah looked, but was able to hold it back not wanting to create a more uncomfortable atmosphere. However Sarah was quickly able to perceive Chuck's appreciation as she bit her lower lip not to respond.

Chuck had cleared off the table and Sarah sat across from him. Soon Sarah was in turmoil; first in deciding whether to leave nothing from her past out, and after deciding she wouldn't; the next was how to proceed: let him ask questions, for her to go chronologically, or some hybrid of the two. Looking down at her hands as she was wringing them did not ease her tension. Eventually Chuck placed a hand on top of hers, "Would it help if I asked a question to start?" Sarah quickly nodded, her eyes showing her thanks.

They quickly shifted into panic mode when she heard the word 'Bryce' escape his lips and Chuck instantaneously went silent. After regaining her composure Sarah put her hand on top of Chuck's and gently squeezed. This brought Chuck's face up and when his eyes met Sarah's and there was no anger he relaxed a little.

"Chuck, I know you've said on more than one occasion that you can handle my past. If it gets to be too much please tell me to stop or take a break; because once I get started with this I am not sure I can stop… ok?" The end portion came out timidly and Chuck nodded although he promised himself to only stop if Sarah was having a difficult time in continuing. Holding onto a lifetime of secrets and having it ingrained that she had to do it this way to survive; he turned the hand that Sarah's was on top of and returned the squeeze she gave a moment ago.

That action gave Sarah the start, although she carried on haltingly, "When I was born… I… uh… well you've seen… so… uugghh; why can't I do this?" She looked up at Chuck and took a deep breath while Chuck was trying to give a comforting look.

"It is now called ambiguous genitalia, when I was born they didn't have a name for it. The doctors thought my testes had simply not descended until it was pointed out I didn't have a scrotum." Chuck looked at her questioningly and then closed his eyes as Sarah stopped talking.

When he opened them gain, "Don't worry I won't ask for you to... uh… my mind kind of went to a different place when my eyes made it down there." Chuck finished off guiltily.

Chuck's look made Sarah curious as to what he could possibly feel guilty over when it came to her, "Chuck, did you think I was playing a prank on you?"

"Sarah, it was a stupid thought and my insecurities played out more than they should with everything that has happened the most beautiful woman in the world having a penis shouldn't have shocked me." Chuck facepalmed himself just as he finished, "I don't know what I'm saying; something may be wrong with my brain."

Sarah blanched at that and not willing to take the chance got up and started to her nightstand where her phone was. Chuck grabbed her arm gently and shook his head, "I'm not making this easy for you. I'm sorry. These issues have nothing to do with the Intersect and now that I have completely distracted you I wouldn't blame you for kicking me out. Just know that I will never betray your trust; your secret is precious to me."

Sarah looked at him and nodded her acknowledgment, thankful that she had found the one person whom she could trust with this. Looking over at him she suddenly realized she needed to confront this head on and not couch it waiting for him at some point to run, but it all came back to her previous thought she trusted this man more than anybody else and he deserved as much truth as she could give.

"First, you need to be honest with me, are you having any problems with the Intersect?"

"No, there isn't any problem with the Intersect. My humor response must be in Rob Riggle mode," at Sarah's raised eyebrow, "He's an actor/comedian who thinks he's funnier than he is. He's nobody we should worry about. You were talking about your medical diagnosis for your condition."

Sarah gave a warm smile that he was paying attention knowing he tended to wander when things were quiet for too long. "I don't have testicles, I do have ovaries." Chuck looked confused, but nodded for Sarah to continue, "This condition happens about once in every six thousand births, but not to my extreme, some can have both… anyways they gave my parents a choice. First, whether they wanted me to be a boy or girl and the possible procedures the choice would entail. The problem with any of this was my dad was in the last part of a long con. He had promised my mother when I was born he would stop as the current job would allow them a cushion to set us up for the transition to a 'normal' life. My mom refused to participate in the bad parts of the capers, but in this one she was in as his pregnant wife, because well, she was. A few days into his paternity leave he was going to lift the checks that were scheduled to be sent out on the false claims he approved. After that we were to leave to begin our real life. The thoughts of the procedures and staying there put him in a slight panic and he just went ahead with his plan and made the choice of me being a boy and putting off the procedures."

Chuck placed his hand on top of Sarah's arm just as a gesture of comfort and she returned a look of appreciation, "With the windfall we did settle in… uhh, that's not important; my father kept on the straight and narrow until kindergarten. All along they had dressed me as a boy, but neither of my parents ever talked to me about the differences between a boy and girl and they kept me very sheltered. The first day of class the teacher separated us into boys and girls and I would go to the girl's side. At first the teacher thought it was a joke, but apparently they also thought I was stubborn and the teacher not wanting to spend too much time on this acquiesced, but called my parents in and they brought a book back to explain the difference to my age group, but I would still insist I was a girl. We went to a doctor and a child psychologist and their collaborative conclusion was that I acclimated more as a female and should be treated as such. It didn't go very well as the teacher was herself confused by it and soon I was shuttled between all of the different kindergarten classes the school had. Another doctor was brought into the mix and after some tests decided that hormonal therapy would need to be a part of my life as I was producing roughly the same amount of estrogen and testosterone so I needed to supplement the estrogen… What? Everybody produces both."

"Even Casey?" Brought a much needed laugh from the both of them.

"Yes, even Casey; well needless to say the bills from the appointments and now with the prescriptions; combined with moving. The school suggested me getting a fresh start someplace else would be less confusing for everybody. So my dad first tried to take a few more shifts. Don't laugh, he sold used cars and was good at it, but he could see there was no way that was going to begin to cover the costs. So he began to look for opportunities and found one where both the potential cost and payoff was big. The payoff cleared out all the debt and also paid for a new house, but it broke my mom's heart and she kicked him out. I added to her heartache when I snuck into his car before he left. When he found me he pulled over and called mom and I told her I wanted to stay with dad. She let me go as long as I called her every day and when I wanted to come back to just say the word. Dad and I agreed and every day for the first month asked if I wanted to go back; after my repeated no's he stopped asking.

We would drift from place to place; however every six months we would be back for my doctor's appointment to maintain the hormone prescription. Sometimes I would stay with his mom if he was pulling a con where I would be a detriment, I'm not sure if she liked me as I had to call her Miss Louise rather than Grandma. I did call my mom every day until around the age of high school when they both determined I should go back to school. Whether with dad or Miss Louise I would sneak into a library of whatever town we were in and taught myself science, math, history, etc. My freshman year we were in Wisconsin and I was Katie O'Connell; it turns out I was up to college level things so I was able to blend in as one of the masses. The hardest part was gym… not the class itself, after the activity I had to avoid taking a shower and was able to get away with it the entire year.

During the year he would head out for some jobs and leave me alone for a few weeks at a time which I had gotten used to, but one of the neighbors called child services on him and the last day of school we were packed and headed back to California. We found a place in the same city as my mom so child services were no longer a threat. Gym was taken care of thanks to a forged doctor's note, so most everything was good, but I felt like an outsider and an ugly duckling."

Chuck squeezed her hand and gave a look questioning how she could possibly think that, "Chuck, I had these god awful braces for two years and going through puberty and the hormones were increased… I just was miserable and uncomfortable. Dad was gone on some long cons; three back to back that took up the majority of my sophomore and first part of my junior year. So I tried reconnecting with my mom, but that was always awkward. Both of us would overcompensate and get frustrated because we knew the other one was obviously overcompensating. Eventually we fell into kind of a quiet acceptance where we didn't really talk about anything even though we both wanted to.

Early on in my senior year my father was arrested. That is where I met Graham; my father had hid a go pack with money and some ID's. I had just gotten it when he found me and made his pitch basically continuing what my dad was teaching me along with other things, but instead to help people. He left me his card saying he would be back in a week for my answer, even if I ran. He did not mention anything about my mother, but he did say something about my birth certificate. Figuring I was being tailed I sent a letter to my mom; actually to her next door neighbor, but with her name so the Feds wouldn't find it in her mailbox. The more I thought about it, I was fairly certain they would find leverage to force me to do it. I just hoped he wasn't lying about helping people.

When he came back, the first thing he asked about was the special bank account. Despite his best efforts to hide it; their forensic accountants found the account he had for me. Graham looked at me with a sneer and said my father turned over all the accounts they found without a problem and was willing to roll on a number of unsavory people as long as they left that account alone since it was for me and that I was special. He then placed a folder on top of the table and asked if I had tried on my college boards. When I shrugged my shoulders he said I needed to take the SAT and get at least in the high 1400's and he can take care of college. Before you ask I got a 1520, FYI. He was concerned about my not participating in gym class so he had me do a few exercises. After finishing them he grew more curious and told me to take my clothes off." Seeing Chuck's nostrils flare forced Sarah to take an extra breath.

"He said he wasn't doing anything but wanting to see if any cosmetic surgery was necessary. I went down to my underwear, but he shook his head dismissively. He finally brought out his leverage on where my father would be spending his prison sentence and he could be mislabeled as a pedophile which got my bra off and when I took my panties off he asked about my wrap. Taking it off was one of the only times I can remember him being surprised, but I was petrified and humiliated. He actually apologized and placed his card on the table. He said he would not turn over the account, but he would put it in another place and if I measured up he would divert part of my salary into it, if not he would turn it over to me.

"Why didn't he schedule the surgery then?" Chuck blurted out. "I'm sure it wouldn't have been that difficult for him to set up."

Sarah shook her head and made sure he saw her appreciative look, "He is not going to simply give something without getting anything in return. The account was the carrot to keep me in line and follow his orders to a tee. To jump forward I did retake the SAT's as I said and I found myself at Harvard studying foreign languages and minoring in world studies and during the breaks I would be at Langley taking courses and seminars along with skills training. After graduating I was sent to Paris to complete my spy training and given my final test." Sarah paused but looking into his eyes wondering if this would be the thing to tip him over the edge, "They call it a Red Test because you're causing death, but I think of it more like a financial ledger except this is dealing with your soul. Completing it plunges you so far in the red most don't climb out and other struggle to do enough good things to bring it back to the black."

She was about to continue when Chuck stopped her, "I don't need to know the specifics right now, but I'm pretty sure I have an idea what a Red Test is and you obviously 'passed' it so were you teamed with the name neither of us wants to hear said out loud."

Sarah couldn't hide the smile and while she was happy to skip that incident she made a mental note to tell him about it, "No, at first I was doing solo missions: infiltrations, stealing info, planting incriminating evidence, seductions, interro…"

"Seductions?"

Sarah gulped, "I never went all the way… a good seductress should never have to rely on the act to get what she wants. However there were times Graham would have me incapacitate somebody and take pictures of them with a part of me. I always thought he enjoyed those assignments, until he realized he was pushing me too far." At Chuck's sad but questioning look, "The CIA had made me lethal and Graham knew it, if he pushed me too far I would have turned on him. At that point I was getting the 'Graham's enforcer' moniker. Soon after he put me in a group with three extraordinary women, but he had to stamp us with some stupid sexist name: the CATS. He pawned it off as Combat Anti-Terrorist Squad. We worked together quite well until we ran up against Augusto Gaez; anyhow Carina was a part of it and she was the main seducer although another woman, Amy, also would handle that aspect as well. Another woman Zondra and I were the 'muscle'. We had separate bathrooms to answer your unspoken question and the CIA had come up with this cover up tape that blended perfectly into my skin tone and thanks to the hormone treatments I was still taking regularly and despite all of them being beautiful I never had any interest in them. Some after mission parties had then waking up some interesting combinations."

Even only knowing Carina it was difficult for Chuck not to tap into that part of his mind he rarely did, but it was short lived as his mind imagined a scowling Sarah watching him watching them. With a rising blush he looked over to a smirking Sarah, "Sorry."

She explained the breakup of the CATS and that was when she was introduced to Bryce and her character of Mrs. Anderson. "Being married obviously made it more difficult to hide things; sharing a bed and bathroom along with showing affection. It wasn't confusing, but I started to feel bad lying to my partner. He handled the seducing, although I should simply call it shagging as he always made sure he had sex even if he'd already got the information we needed." She took a deep breath, "Just to be safe I would always lock the door whenever I went into the bathroom to take a shower or use the toilet. One time I was taking a shower and I didn't hear him pick the lock. I was washing my hair when he stepped in and he started laughing at me saying that I had everybody fooled. I was standing under the stream unable to move and he moved closer to me and dropped to his knees. I placed a hand to cover myself, but he took it away and after taking another look called me a freak and said it was good because he liked it freaky. I asked him to stop; he then said he would, but would feel obligated to tell everybody about my situation. I started to cry and he laughed again and in that condescending tone started counting down stating if he got to zero my secret would be spread around all the intelligence agencies that Graham's 'Golden Girl' was a boy. When he got to one I caved. I sometimes thought I was a freak because of this, but that was the first time I ever felt like one."

The description went into graphic detail and had Chuck fighting within himself whether to stop her. While disgusted with his college roommate he wanted to show Sarah he was deserving of her trust and having to hold this in could not have been healthy for her. She was so caught up in her stories that she didn't stop when Chuck brought her to the bed so he could sit next to her. He put his arms around her waist and her head was almost magnetically drawn to lying on his shoulder. As she continued Chuck felt sick to his stomach as she told Graham and his response was merely to shrug his shoulders and continue on to their next mission parameters. The growing rage against Bryce he swallowed down knowing Sarah would probably take any hostility from him as something against her

Sarah had never believed in 'out of body' experiences, but she was stunned as she found herself sitting on her bed next to Chuck, her head nestled into his shoulders, "Chuck, how did I get here? Chuck?" Hearing the sobs she lifted her head and turned to face him. As she remembered the last topic of Bryce discovering her in the shower her breathing stilled. "Chuck I think I zoned out. I'm not trying to make fun of you what was the last thing I was talking to you about?"

Chuck sniffled and took one of his arms away from Sarah to wipe his face, "Cabo," was all he could get out.

Which started the tears to fall from her eyes as she barely whispered, "I told him everything."

"No, but I swear the next time I see him…"

"Chuck please don't, I have no idea what I'd do if he hurt you because of me."

"What he's done to me alone he deserves… I know I'm not a fighter… at our frat we were roommates and most weekends he would head off to San Francisco and the brothers would have a standard pool of whether he'd come back smelling like Chanel No.5, Aqua Velva, or a combination of the two. The things he said and did to you was unconscionable. He could have and did have so many other people; why was he obsessed with you?"

"He wanted to get me excited… I tried to tell him it was because of the hormones I was taking and I even tried to fake it, but I had never really thought about sex as I was certain I would never find somebody… um."

"Then how did you…oh … OH! I'm sorry Sarah."

"You don't have anything to apologize for Chuck. If you remember after our first kiss there was an additional reason why I said it was awkward. The last time that had happened I was in High School. I woke up and there it was. I'm embarrassing both of us."

"Sarah, I'm not embarrassed, but what happened on Thanksgiving?"

"It wasn't the intelligence communities he was going to tell. That stupid signal after getting his assignment was the last straw and I told him that I was staying and he said he was going to tell you. I called him on it and spent the next week terrified he was going to. I was never mad at you; I just wanted to make it easier to send me away when Larkin would tell you."

"I'm not going to send you away."

Relief swept over Sarah's face and she successfully fought off the strong urge to kiss Chuck, content to hug him. Chuck's eyes drifted to Sarah's alarm and he shifted, "Sarah, it's ten o'clock."

"Crap!" She ran to her wardrobe and grabbed her Orange Orange outfit before heading to the bathroom.

Chuck was slightly surprised not hearing the click of the lock when he heard his phone ring with the tone he set for one special person. "Casey, I'm sorry we lost track of time," suddenly grimacing as to what that would sound exactly like to him and the subsequent barrage of jokes it would lead to.

"Well, then I doubt your chocolate got into her peanut butter."

"What?"

"Nothing, we've got a lead on the actual cipher and we have to go locate the one agent who was successful in getting any information from the scum that has it."

"Who?"

"Are you going to go through the rest of the questions, Bartowski? Well maybe we can see what's in your head about either, the mark is nicknamed 'The Black Widow' no comic book jokes moron, the agent is Roan Montgomery."

Chuck was in the midst of the flash when Sarah left the bathroom. In a panic she rushed over to make sure he didn't fall and grabbed his phone. Looking at it she brought it up to her, "Casey?"

"Walker, so I guess Bartowski has something on one of our two targets."

Chuck came out of it shaking his head, "I know where Roan Montgomery lives."

 _ **A/N: Did not forget about this story, I'll find out how many others have. The next chapters will use canon as a base, but some things may change from it. Also more than one episode may go into a chapter. Thanks to those reading and reviewing. If you are still upset about Sarah I understand, but giving me a shot to reveal more about the situation and taking the chance to read it. I appreciate it. Also for those that may not remember Rob Riggle was Agent Rye.**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: Thanks to those who are continuing on with this. Might have to watch the second season once again as the details on episodes aren't coming back to me as readily as I thought. We will only be dealing with v. Seduction in this chapter. I will let you know about any canon changes.**_

 **A Different Kind of Couple**

 **Chapter 4**

Casey took a sip of his coffee, its heat and bitterness doing its best to keep him on focus. After the confrontation with Walker he seriously considered contacting Beckman and asking for reassignment. Reflecting on why he thought of that as his first response did nothing but keep him away from his calm center as the shame was staining his sense of honor. Apparently she hadn't immediately said anything to Bartowski as he told where he was going as soon as Casey opened his door a few hours ago. Chuck donning that stupid grin as he walked past; if she had spilled the beans there's no way he would be able to look at his general direction knowing what almost happened earlier. Regardless tailing him on his journey to a bakery, store, back to the bakery and then a coffee shop before heading here was a necessity just in case something was up. Planting a camera at the service door while Chuck went up was easy; trying to keep his mind on task was not. If they weren't planning a strategy to run he didn't want to know what else they'd been doing for four hours.

The only good thing about Beckman's call was being able to get out of his own head. Although she seemed to be off her game as well; this began to make sense when Montgomery's name was mentioned. The rumors were out there and although he truly did not care; he was unaccustomed to the small amount of worry in her voice. After disconnecting his first movement was to exit the Crown Vic when he realized there would be no amount of liquor to erase the scene if he were to casually knock on Walker's door. After thirty seconds where his body just shivered while his mind attempted to process and delete the images, a few passersby were unsure if he was having a seizure or if Electric Boogaloo V was going to be made and he was practicing his 'A' move. He returned to his car. Making the call to the nerd he was able to get in a solid jab, but then realized he needed to really talk to him and had no idea how to do it.

The two came down a few minutes later, Walker apologizing that she needed to change. She did not want to meet the famed Roan Montgomery wearing her Orange Orange outfit. Chuck sat in the passenger seat and Sarah in the back with a relatively quiet ride for the first fifteen minutes, "So Casey, what's your favorite peanut butter?"

"Skippy chunky, why?"

"That must be pretty precarious for your chocolate." Chuck smirked while Sarah giggled having heard Casey's common euphemism for sex a dozen times or so. The rest of the drive remained fairly quiet.

Entering Montgomery's subdivision Casey broke one of his cardinal rules and shared something personal, "He flunked me twice."

Chuck's brow furrowed and looked to Sarah first to confirm what he had heard and then looking for some context. Sarah merely put her hand on Casey's shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze as she interpreted this as Casey laying a foundation of personal trust before telling Chuck about the kill order. She felt warmth, not in any way sexual, that her team would possibly stick together, and if there was more to the story besides him simply accepting the order no questions asked she may smooth the way to help Chuck understand as long as Casey understood anybody coming after Chuck would end up at best in a body bag.

Chuck watched Sarah's reaction and realized this had to be something big and forced enough restraint to stop at, "Flunk you for what? You're a superspy."

Casey was not expecting that answer and allowed a genuine small smile before returning his stone façade, "Montgomery is one of the top teachers of infiltration via seduction and considered the master of this craft in the field. The only thing not passing did was allow me to avoid any seduction assignments, which I am thoroughly appreciative of. However…" Casey stopped before it got too personal, "Walker, who was your instructor?"

"I, uhh, didn't have one per se. I just watched a training video and did the final."

Casey lost himself in his thoughts for a moment as that was the procedure for those who were sexually traumatized or vastly experienced. He couldn't picture Walker as either, but chanced a look back to see if her face revealed anything. Instead he was caught with her and Bartowski sharing some look. Trying to decipher that he misjudged how close he was to the concrete stop in the parking space and the Vic's tires hit it solidly, almost going over. The pair now looked startled at Casey, who merely shrugged and said, "I was wondering if there was something to stop you two from making googly eyes at one another," and quickly stepped out of the car to give a cursory look at his baby, admonishing himself for neglecting her in this way..

To say finding Roan was a letdown in almost every sense was extremely accurate as the group drove back to Burbank. Roan was strapped in the passenger seat over Casey's original suggestion of dumping him in the trunk. If he awoke in the trunk who knows what he could do to escape? Quiet soon overtook the drive back and as Casey spotted a sign marked 'scenic spot one mile' an idea popped in his head. One that he was hardly happy with, but it would break up the monotony of the road.

Making their way back to the car; Casey was surprised at Chuck's initial reluctance to pose for some cover photos with Walker. Once she wrapped his right arm around her and leaned back into him he relaxed and was able to get a couple of decent photos so he wouldn't have to photoshop other ones. Stepping in and seeing Montgomery hadn't moved Casey did put a small mirror in front of him to confirm he was still breathing. Once that was established they took off. A few minutes in it was quiet again and a quick glance in the rear view mirror found Bartowski head supported by Walker's shoulder.

"There should be a clean towel underneath my seat you can put it on your lap and use it as a pillow for him." Sarah's look of astonishment caused Casey to chuckle, "Neither of you are comfortable this way and I don't want to worry about Bartowski's slobber getting on the back seat." Sarah eyed him cautiously before balancing Chuck and reaching down for the towel. Thinking that at some point Walker was humming something Casey broke down and turned on his radio finding the replay of the latest Rush Limbaugh show.

* * *

"Sarah, I'm sorry, but I couldn't let you kiss Casey. That would have been…" Chuck shivered at the thought, "More awkward than this, right? Sarah?"

Hearing the faucet run and turn off followed by the unlocking of the bathroom door had Chuck turn the handle and cautiously walk into the room where Sarah had her back to him.

"I am a freak."

Chuck rushed over to her and placed his hands on top of her shoulders, after a moment of feeling his face on the back of her head she shivered slightly as his lips touched the top of her head. "If by freak you mean the most amazing person in the world I can accept that. Otherwise you are wrong."

Sarah turned to look Chuck in his eyes and found honesty with a steely determination if she dared think anything except for his declaration of truth.

"During it, I kind of forgot about things. I'm sorry if it was too much."

Sarah slightly sighed and wrapped her arms around Chuck, "No, I would be lying if I didn't say the same thing. Plus you needed to show Roan and I actually feel more confident about the mission now because you are going to have to be aggressive like you just were. Luckily you'll have a great weapon with you."

"Yep, Casey'll be at the bar."

Sarah giggled, "No, these," she stated taking one hand and squishing his lips together, "And even though things are different between us… I'm just glad you didn't tell me to leave." The final part she said with her head facing down and in barely above a mumble.

Chuck heard it clearly and fought his instinct to say something immediately; allowing just his mere presence to show her he wasn't going anywhere, but knowing he had to say something, "C'mon you would know I wouldn't leave my best friend, at least I would hope you'd gathered that about me."

Sarah looked up at him with unabashed glee from what he said. However it started to lessen as time passed until she arched an eyebrow, "What about Morgan?"

"He's my best childhood friend. There are so many times and things we've shared that there is no possible way to remember them all, and he's saved me too… well we've saved each other in different ways." Sarah tried to look down, but Chuck held onto her chin keeping her looking up. "But, it's almost impossible for your best childhood friend to be your best adult friend because you find yourself in a pattern of doing the things you have always done and when you find yourself closer to thirty and still doing the things you were before you were even twenty… Don't get me wrong, I'll always want Morgan as a part of my life. It is going to take him longer to get out of the 'Peter Pan' mode he's lived his life by for a decade, but Anna has begun to chip away at a few of those things. Like you chipped away those things for me; just know that when this is all over I will still be there for you." Chuck shrugged and released her chin.

Sarah cursed at herself for crying, "Just so you know I will always do my best to protect you even after this." She let go of Chuck and gave a gentle push against his hands and he let her gain a little distance as she went to the sink and washed her face. Looking back she said, "Thank you, I've never been a best friend before."

Chuck shrugged again, "I think you will be an excellent best friend."

Sarah slightly blushed, but composed herself quickly, "Well as your best friend I think I need to give you some more prep. You were spot on when you talked about making a connection with Banachek, but she is not going to make it easy for you. Roan and I are going to be in the van, as long as he remains relatively sober, the best bet is to follow his instructions."

"I should add that after you left he said he would help me 'get you'." Chuck could not read Sarah's face with that revelation.

"Ok, you should accept it, but be cautious because he and Beckman have a history. Nobody is positive how far it goes, but even though I don't think he's a mole for the General. I cannot afford to trust him not to be… Ok; I think we need to get you a new tie and pants, come on."

* * *

"Let her go Charles." As Roan explained the Montgomery he didn't know if it was his naivety, but he did trust him and it seemed to be mutual. Roan had the aura of the legendary spy now, when before it would have been a know-it-all snob with a martini glass permanently attached to his hand. Roan left and Chuck went back to his apartment he just sat on his bed thinking he'll go over to Sarah's in a half hour, but the wearing off of the adrenaline from his 'Ass Man' jump had him asleep for two hours.

Waking up he groaned as his body felt sore and stiff, looking over to his clock he swore at himself before getting up and getting himself ready to go. Uninterested in the tips Roan had left with he stepped out of the Morgan Door and two steps out saw Casey's door open holding a white dinner jacket. Chuck gave a dejected sigh and walked over to Casey who simply stepped aside allowing him to walk in first.

"Montgomery turned around ready to offer more advice after you had gone into your room. You fell asleep immediately so I dragged him back here and he told me to get these items for you. Frankly I thought Walker was going to jump you right then… well after checking to make sure you were ok and then hitting you for risking yourself like that. You did a very brave thing Chuck. Whatever happens between you and Walker; as long as it doesn't affect the missions and you can keep yourself professional at least in my presence I can live with. I think we have a good team. While you were changing in the bathroom she sent a text asking if you were coming over. I did reply that you were going to be on your way in five minutes."

Chuck was processing the longest stretch Casey had probably ever talked in his life while saying, "Thanks," and grabbing his phone he made it to the door before Casey mentioned something about needing to talk with him about something and that he should bring Walker. Chuck nonchalantly turned and answered, "Ok," before getting into the Nerd Herder wondering if he had just encountered the Bizarro Casey.

During the drive he called Sarah wanting to explain why he would be dressed the way he was; avoiding the initial awkwardness that the outfit implied. He was slightly concerned that she didn't answer, but it was likely she had jumped into the shower. He casually strode by the desk manager who was used to Chuck's presence and gave him a thumbs up as he walked by. Chuck laughed entering the elevator and he was still amused as he walked to Sarah's door the prevalent thought in his mind whether Sarah would answer the door before or after he could knock. He was able to; unfortunately the person answering the door was not Sarah.

"Hey bud…" was all that came out before a loud thunk reverberated into the hallway and room.

 _ **A/N: Sorry about the delay between chapters. Started reading a number of different movies and TV shows which had me thinking about story ideas for their topics. I am working on my other story as well and hope to get the next chapter up quickly for both. Thanks for reading and reviewing. Added in lines to differentiate breaks within the episode.**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**A/N: Will only deal with v. Breakup; may be long as there are a few items that need to be changed…. For my story. There will be some disturbing content as Bryce doesn't get his tongue cut out (yet?). Another thought, you may want to take a shower after this and not in a good way.**_

 **A Different Kind of Couple**

 **Chapter 5**

Hearing the knock on the door and the 'thunk' Sarah quickly unlocked the bathroom door and had one of her throwing knives at the ready if that son of a bitch had even rolled his beady eyes at her Chuck. Releasing a huge breath of relief she watched Bryce crumble to the ground and managed a small chuckle as after Chuck situated Bryce clear from the door with his foot and declared, "I christen thee the Sinking Douchebag." Understanding the reference as they had watched Caddyshack recently.

Chuck had not taken his eyes off his old roommate and in stepping over him paused for a moment and placed his large Chuck Taylor onto his groin and lifted his other foot off the ground allowing that small area to support all of Chuck's weight for a few more moments than necessary in stepping over him. Sarah couldn't help a grin that soon stopped as Chuck knelt next to the unconscious spy on the floor balling his hand into a fist as for the first time she saw rage in his eyes. Sarah quickly dropped her knife and ran to Chuck stopping him before he swung down.

"Sarah… are you ok? I… I was going to look for you, but something… stopped me."Chuck said ashamedly.

"Chuck, it's ok; he deserves far worse, but I just couldn't let you lose control. You would have hated yourself later." Sarah brought Chuck into a hug, "However there will be some retribution dished out later on; for both our sakes. First though I need you to get me a zip tie. They're…"

Chuck took off into the kitchenette and quickly came back picking up Sarah's knife along the way. He wordlessly handed both to her as she asked with her eyes how he knew where they were.

"Remember a few weeks ago when I was looking for a bottle opener I, uhh, came across them." Sarah started to nod but her curiosity became piqued as Chuck began to furiously blush. Using her soon to be patented quirked eyebrow, Chuck began to babble, "Sarah, you know, before, uh everything… you know you can't control your dreams and I mean that's something I would never think of doing and uhh…"

Sarah pressed a finger to Chuck's lips, "I know you don't objectify women," Sarah moved her finger, pondered something and spoke again, "Who was tied up; me or you?"

"Um, both."

"At the same time?"

"No, the dream happened a few times." Chuck looked to the floor.

"Hey, I have dreams about you too. I don't think I'd be much of a cover girlfriend if I couldn't elicit a few dreams." She added saucily and Chuck lifted his head boasting a smile, "I know things are different now and even though you are going to state it will never happen; if this ever gets too much for you, you need to let me know because I don't want to ever hurt you."

Sarah slid the zip tie onto Bryce's wrists, but Chuck could see she was a little bit shaky in doing so, "Sarah; did anything happen before I got here?"

Sarah looked at Chuck wide-eyed and after a tense few seconds she slowly shook her head, "No, Chuck; when I heard the door knock I figured you had caught the lights. Although the knock didn't sound like yours so I cautiously went to the door and saw it was Bryce. Knowing that you were going to be showing up any minute I didn't want a confrontation in the hallway so I let him in. I asked what he was doing here. He first said there was a mission then came closer to me and put his hand in my hair and said the Anderson's were going to get back together for quite some time. When he touched me I panicked and ran into the bathroom and locked the door… I don't know why I acted like such a coward. I couldn't really do anything until I heard your knock and then I heard a noise as I was opening the door. I had my knife out in case that bastard touched you, but you were safe… possibly out of control, but safe. Why are you wearing that? Are you doing the Montgomery?"

"Sarah that was the reason why I called just before getting here. You must have left your phone someplace because I wanted to warn you about this instead of sending another mixed signal. As an aside I don't want to hurt you either, but after you left this morning it was like all the energy I had just disappeared. I ended up taking a nap and after waking I wanted to head out, but Casey stopped me with the Montgomery accoutrements."

"Casey?"

"Yes, although I'm still thinking it may have been an alien or Nega-Casey." At Sarah's confused look he continued, "Casey said as long as we behaved professionally in his presence and it didn't affect the missions he doesn't care about what we do. He also mentioned something about needing to talk and you could be there as well. I am right this is the Anti-Casey or something right? My anger towards Bryce is from what he did to you and please don't ever think you are a coward. I think from telling me what really happened probably forced you to not be able to hide the truth to yourself anymore… He violated you." The last part he said in a whisper as he brought his hands up and brushed his thumbs across her cheeks.

Sarah looked up and watched the tear sliding down Chuck's face and tried to name what she was feeling. She had always equated love with passion and in having no prior experience with either of those before this assignment allowed herself a brief moment to think perhaps there was something to those childhood fairy tales. Reality was soon thrust back at her as the impact of Chuck's last statement hit her and she started to close in on herself. The only thing keeping that from happening was the sudden feeling of warmth along with the two arms holding her tightly.

"Sarah, I need you to stay with me; ok?" Sarah, her eyes glassy, nodded slowly. "Verbal response please?"

"Yes Chuck I'm here," Sarah said albeit shakily, "We can't keep him here though. We'll bring him down to Castle into an interrogation room. Get the info on the mission, finish the job and then…"

"What about Bryce?" Sarah shrugged her shoulders as she had no idea what to do with him.

Bryce woke up slowly as he couldn't quite shake off the daze he was in; also his genitals were sore, but not in the usual way. He was also surprised as his hands appeared to be cuffed. That brought a limited focus as he now realized he had been captured. Trying to run through his memory… He remembered going to Burbank for some piddly little mission, but it gave him the opportunity to get his freak on with his freak. She had gone into the bathroom to prepare; the best part was he hadn't had to bring up the threat; she just acquiesced. Then again voicing the threat made it all the more pleasurable for him and in turn brought up his performance. Despite her whimperings and protests, she always was brought to tears of joy.

"What the hell are you smiling about Larkin?!" Recognizing the voice, but never hearing such a harsh tone or the fact that he had never called him by his last name solely confused the bastard spy.

Squinting up at him he instead looked into a bright light which took his mind from the mocking he was about to do as his brain was in agony. He could hear the lamp switch off, but still needed a minute to convince his eyes to open once again.

Looking up at Chuck he began to recall the events in Sarah's room, "Changed out of the Montgomery, Chuck? Well I'll let you in on a secret. I doubt Sarah will fall for that, she needs somebody to treat her like the sissy slut he is… or in Sarah's case maybe 'it' is the proper gender term. Confused? Sarah's little secret is that she has a little…"

"I know," Chuck snapped; trying to regain his composure, "You have a concussion, so you need to tell us the mission details so we can get the job done and you can go to whatever asshole convention you're due to speak at next."

Bryce smirked, "Sarah told you… maybe she finally found those balls she claimed to never have." Chuck looked towards the one way mirror for the briefest of moments, "Oh, so Sarah's watching us. I guess the balls situation didn't last too long."

Not long after Chuck delivered a roundhouse right that showed very little technique, but with Bryce's position and overconfident assurance that despite being cuffed to a table he was in charge the punch landed right next to his eye causing both to cry out in some pain. Bryce dropped his head to the table then the door opened and Chuck was dragged out by a worried Sarah. She continued dragging him to the infirmary, with anger mixing in with the worry. Once there she carefully examined his hand and wrapped it along with an ice pack before heading back.

Despite being 'soundproof' Bryce was making enough noise that you could hear a trace of it as they approached his cell. Sarah cursed at herself as Chuck could feel her ever so slightly shake.

"Sarah you don't have to go in there. I'll get the information and come up with something to make sure he never bothers you again."

"Or you." Sarah said softly, "I find it hard to believe that you were friends."

"Looking back on it so do I. He had traces of this persona that now encompasses what he passes off as a personality, but our freshman and sophomore years we spent a lot of time together trying to create a game and we were really close before the summer break, but I promised I wouldn't finish while he was back out East and I was here. When school started back up I waited for him to bring it up; after four weeks our schedules were in place: study groups, lab hours, etc. and there was little time that we both had off. Not to mention that if I got back after eleven there inevitably was a sock on the door."

"What's that mean?"

"It's, umm, you know… it's the fraternity version of a 'Do not disturb' sign. There was one professor who I really wanted to learn from, but all his classes were at night. In fact he was the only one who tried to stand in the way of my expulsion. Sorry what were we trying to talk about?"

"Bryce and you as friends; the time frame makes some sense as that is generally when students are approached by the various agencies. To get them while they have a little naivety still and they aren't quite competing with the companies looking for job candidates. Chuck, we can always get the info from Beckman."

"I know, but I promise I won't hit him again." Chuck said adamantly.

"Don't make a promise you cannot keep. He knows all your weaknesses and especially after saying you know about me. Maybe we should just call Beckman and say he fell and hit his head."

"Sarah, don't worry." Although at that point Chuck hadn't been concerned, but seeing how Sarah was reacting began to raise his anxiety level. Hearing the door shut brought him out of the semi-stupor he was in.

"Chuck, you're back. Hope you at least had your thumb outside your fist." Bryce defiantly stated attempting to glare with his one good eye as the other was already swollen shut.

"Bryce… forget it, we're going to contact Beckman about the assignment and take you to the hospital to get your eye looked at."

"Whoa, the noble Chuck has returned. Figured you'd be scared of your handiwork. That's fine I'll tell you about the assignment, but then I also get to tell you something I want to. We can even extend this to all those questions that have been eating you up inside since college. What do you say?"

Chuck reluctantly agreed and learned about that they needed to infiltrate a party thrown by Von Hayes only pausing for a moment when Chuck asked if he was the ex-Phillies outfielder and Larkin responding that he didn't think so. Hayes was a free lancer and had not dealt with Fulcrum prior to this, but thought he was ready to swim with the big fishes. Bryce also shared in far too vivid detail his exploits of Sarah. Those stories seemed to get progressively worse and Chuck could feel the rage building within him. Tempering that was repeating the promise that he had made and although he couldn't quite come up with the proper word for it, just the mere fact Sarah could be treated so horribly and still do her job at all let alone excel added to how special he knew she was.

Bryce tired of talking about Sarah so he started on about Stanford. Until he went to Langley for the summer after his sophomore year they were truly friends, but when his eyes were opened Chuck became a potential liability. He even stated his real reason for getting Chuck kicked out. Bryce laughed maniacally as Chuck explained he saw the video clip before stopping and saying that was just some crap he made up figuring that was the easiest way to get the Professor to agree. No, Bryce had been briefed on the Intersect Project because of his field of study and performance on that very test. He was one of a select few to be considered for upload and with Chuck simply being better at both of those he did not want to lose his place in line. Jill was even easier; a watered down mix of GHB and ecstasy got not only her, but her Asian friend as well into his bed at the same time. After the first few encounters whatever latent guilt was manifested and allowed her to foolishly think she now had feelings for him that were never reciprocated. They were merely added to his rotation of sex partners until he dumped them all right before finals.

Bryce smirked as he knew Chuck had reached his boiling point and that he'd have to take another hit or two; feign being unconscious and then disappear into the ether after his escape. He'd hole up for a while, but he would come back, take care of Chuck, and claim his prize, Sarah. Bryce started his next story going back to a particular tryst with Sarah that he termed 'interesting' that even the Marquis de Sade's stomach would have problems with. Sarah stood mortified at the glass unable to move. Chuck could not look at Bryce any longer, torn between crying and vomiting. He looked back towards the mirror and walked towards it, leaning his forehead down to the glass. Sarah took a step to her left so that they were 'facing' one another. Chuck put his left hand on the glass which Sarah matched using her right; with Chuck's left he simply outlined a heart and stepped away from the glass.

Sarah was completely overwhelmed with emotion when she heard steps approaching. She immediately muted the speaker as the steps came closer she could tell they were Casey's.

"Walker… are you ok?" Casey stammered out at seeing her before looking at the mirror seeing the interrogation room, "What happened? Did Chuck catch you and Bryce…?"

"No… nothing was ever consensual with Bryce." Sarah whispered out.

Casey took a closer look and recognized the vacant look in her eyes and that she probably had no idea what she just said. In Africa going through villages that had just been ransacked by the dictator du jour, many of the young women had that glazed over look clinging towards any semblance to an alternate reality where the traumatic events had not occurred. He knew whatever the women were able to say in that state was the truth. A surprising calm filled him up, he didn't know the endgame, but there was going to be some pain dished out and he allowed the part of him that would enjoy giving Larkin a beat down out. He looked to Sarah who was staring wide-eyed into the mirror.

Casey turned and opened the door, "Bartowski!" His booming voice echoed throughout Castle, but quickly softened, "Sarah needs you." He was surprised as Chuck had just bounced Larkin's head off the table.

Chuck silently walked towards Casey with his head down mumbling, "I told her I wasn't going to do anything to him."

Casey grabbed his shoulder and turned looking him straight into the eye, "Chuck, honestly I don't want to know the details of what he did to her or I may not stop and I am just her partner. You love her." Casey pushed Chuck out the door who immediately wrapped himself into Sarah and vice versa.

"I'm sorry I didn't keep my promise."

"Chuck, I never wanted you to hear about those things… I'm so weak." Sarah said dejectedly.

"No, you are the bravest person I know; dealing with that and still being able to function in the spy world, let alone be partners with him."

"Really?" Sarah lifted her head up to Chuck's unwavering look of awe.

Just then Casey opened the door back up, "Beckman called me in about a new mission that dickhead there was supposed to give intel on." Chuck nodded his head, "Ok, you got it. I'll get Beckman on the line and give you two time to maybe run some water on your faces… Oh, after we need to take dickhead to the hospital. Which one of you clipped his eye?" Chuck shrugged and Casey looked at his still wrapped hand, "Good shot, but we don't want to damage your moneymakers."

"Casey you were in there for ten seconds. Did he say anything?" Sarah halted when Chuck asked that.

"He started to open his mouth, but I think I got a good enough shot to at least have dislocated his jaw and his other eye should be closed as well by the time we head back. I'll let it be your call." Casey looked directly at Sarah as he said that and turned to head to the video room. Chuck and Sarah headed to their respective locker rooms to freshen up.

The briefing started like any other; straightforward with minimal feedback other than grunts or nods. Just as they were at the point of wrapping up the briefing; instead of cutting off her transmission the General asked to speak with Agent Walker alone. Chuck's impulse was to grab Sarah's hand. Although it was inappropriate she offered a warm smile to Chuck while nodding that it was ok. If the General was even going to think the word compromise she would be figuratively knocked on her ass as that touch from Chuck brought back Agent Walker: The Enforcer in full readiness.

The General softened her look, "Sarah, Major Casey told me that Agent Larkin is currently in a holding cell, soon to be on his way to the hospital. He only informed me that he has earned far worse than what he's received. I know it's highly personal, but I need to ask what happened between you two."

Agent Walker took a deep breath and told the General enough as she seemingly understood, but still needed certain details. The General nodded before asking, "Did you ever inform…"

"Yes, I called Director Graham after the first incident. He told me he would start an inquiry and stated if I was unable to finish the assignment I could be transferred to a desk immediately."

Agent Walker would swear she heard the veins bulge out from the General's neck upon hearing that, "How were you able to… Don't worry Agent Walker I don't need to know about that, although obviously if you need someone to talk about this with, any and all resources will be made available to you."

"Thank you General."

"One other thing; the Major mentioned that the asset participated in Agent Larkin's current status. Was this from his own past dealings or is he aware of the aspects of your relationship with Larkin?"

Agent Walker took a moment to parse what she wanted to say, "Chuck would not do what he did for his own benefit."

The General sighed at this, "When was he made aware of this?"

"I don't understand what that has to do with anything, but it was before we went to locate Agent Montgomery." Agent Walker noticed how just the mention of Roan's name unnerved the General and held that in reserve.

"Agent Walker this is not the time to discuss this, but are you compro…"

"General, do not say another word." Beckman's mouth dropped open as the fury of the Enforcer came forth, "I'd offer that you and Graham were the compromised ones. With the completely moronic idea of ordering the assassination of an innocent citizen who has gone so far beyond the cause of keeping this country safe. You've spouted on about how important Chuck is, but you're willing to eliminate him before any of those agents had been tested on retaining the information let alone any other potential side effects. You've always underestimated him, but he is special. I can call Agent Larkin deservedly any number of names under the sun, but he could have easily sent the Intersect to any number of agents. Including some of those who probably perished along with Graham, but of all the people he's come across Chuck was the person he thought most capable of handling it in what he assumed was his dying act. He obviously set it up as his Plan B if he were unable to escape. Although I'm sure you and Graham chalked it up to a mistake or dumb luck. He was running for his life away from Casey. You honestly believe he came up with that game quote and password encryption while running out of the facility; you are deluded."

The General took a deep breath in one hand trying to recall the last time anybody had dressed her down like that and in the other rolling around the many truths in her tirade. Offering a look to her she was impressed by the glare she began to speak, but hadn't quite figured out what she was going to address first. "You have made a number of points; however it is not your job to… Does the as… Chuck know what almost happened?" Beckman sputtered out concerned that any false step could result in Walker and the Intersect disappearing.

"No he does not know at this time. However I have given the Major some time to address this. Understand I still hold a great duty in serving my country and by your look I know that you know we could easily vanish. I'm also certain that you will understand I've had to make certain precautions just in case something were to happen to myself, Chuck, or his family. My stint with the Secret Service was brief, but I made a lot of friends there and quite a few of them received a package, along with other assorted contacts: some may be in the media; some may be with other governments. I never realized how many people owe me a debt before. However just to make it clear any attempt on any of us I will view as an act of war. You made a passing motion wanting to know how I could work while Larkin was doing what he was and I know you understand I didn't scratch the surface on what he did. I poured all of it into the mission. Did I go out of control a few times? Yes, but the job always got done. I'm allowing Casey to tell him because it is a matter of honor to him and I will give him a chance quickly to do so. From you there are a few other things. First I don't even want to hear a rumor about your damn 49B in regards to me and if Chuck is the most valuable asset we have he should be treated with far more respect. You can call him something besides 'asset' and 'Intersect'; 'Bartowski' is perfectly acceptable and a 'Chuck' every so often would be nice. Last I hope you have been running up a tab for him because as far as I know he hasn't received a dime for everything he has done thus far for this country."

The General bristled at the last portion, "Agent Walker, if you think I will simply fall in line you are sadly mistaken."

"What part of what I've asked for is unacceptable?"

The General looked at the notes she instinctually wrote down as Walker had recited them, "I will try to do better in using Bartowski while addressing the asset, but there probably won't be 100% compliance. You are using protection I hope."

Agent Walker was stunned by the totality of the response, "Chuck and I have not had sex."

"Why not?" was blurted out.

Agent Walker gave way to Sarah for the response of, "Because."

Hearing the tone downshifted the General back to the original scope of their conversation and she mumbled a curse on whatever remnants of a soul Bryce Larkin had, "Ok Sarah. Major Casey has already given his opinion that elimination is no longer a viable option and I concur. As far as Larkin I'll offer a reminder there is an empty grave with his name on it in LA. Just inform me if it will be filled. Is there anything else?"

Agent Walker answered, "No… thank you General." Both expelled a long breath as the transmission was cut off.

Unbeknownst to any of the people in Castle there was a now extremely interested party who had broken through the encryptions and bypassed the loop Chuck had set to keep anybody reviewing the tape from knowing what had been done or said. This person also watched with a sad smile the interaction between the Agent and the General. Taking a brief moment the person rose and resigned to complete the necessary projects before announcing his presence.

* * *

The mission went by exceptionally easily. The elimination of a Fulcrum agent, or 'Elf Queen' as Chuck referred to her allowed Agent Walker to relax as the data was soon on its way to DC and Von Hayes, after a change of underwear, was off to be questioned by a number of agencies.

The only thing that brought Sarah's mood back down was because of security purposes Larkin had to be brought to Westside and Sarah knew she had to confront him at some point and waiting around would only make it more difficult. She was pleasantly surprised when Casey offered to wait right outside the door and although Chuck was initially insistent about being there with her. He relented as he understood this was something that she needed to do for her sake and for Bryce to possibly understand he had no control over her anymore. He was allowed to accompany her to the hospital and hang with his sister or the good Captain. Sarah took a number of deep breaths before she started to open the door when she was surprised by the voice of the second nicest person she knew.

"Sarah, what brings you here? Is this a friend of yours?"

Sarah struggled for a moment, not wanting to lie, but not ready to tell the truth, "No, actually he is… he is my ex." Sarah let out a harried breath, but the door was open wide enough for the overexuberant curiosity of Ellie Bartowski to peer inside. Despite the fact he looked much closer to Sylvester Stallone at the end of either Rocky I or II Ellie clearly recognized the bane of her brother's post-college existence.

"Your ex is Bryce Larkin?" Ellie whispered in a harsh tone; however seeing Sarah cringe brought out her maternal instinct and she brought the blonde into a warm embrace while the door closed. "Ok, maybe we can start with why he is here? I didn't mean to be judgmental."

Sarah was able to form a small sincere smile, "I'm actually here to confront him on how he had treated me."

Ellie's eyes opened wide as she pulled back to make sure she heard Sarah correctly and this time Sarah could swear she heard tumblers click into place as Ellie processed this information, "Oh my God. This makes so much sense. Going from the King of the Assholes to Chuck… No wonder you need to be cautious. Wait… What did he do to you?" Ellie showed her hyper-protective look and took an aggressive step towards the door before Sarah stopped her.

"Please Ellie I don't need you to do anything that will get you in trouble or that you will regret later… that would be hard for me. I told Chuck the same thing…"

"Chuck did this." Ellie exclaimed in shock.

"No… well not all of it. Bryce surprised me and then Chuck came along and protected me. Another friend came along and heard me ramble on and did the rest. Please don't be mad at Chuck."

Ellie could only look fondly at Sarah, "My little brother, the protector." Ellie's face shifted a little, "Sarah, do you want me to stay here while you confront him."

"Thanks Ellie, but I think my protector is looking for you. I'm not sure how wise it is to have him roaming about the hospital. Thank you also for not asking for details."

"I know I sometimes push, but for this only when you are ready and no matter what I will be there for you, ok?"

This time Sarah initiated the hug, but she soon felt the brunette's brow begin to furrow, "I thought he was dead… Chuck went to his funeral?"

Sarah quickly countered, "Hence the surprise at seeing him. Also you need to know that he is handcuffed to the bed, so I need you to promise me no matter how badly you need to confront him you won't and neither will Devon."

Ellie tried to avoid answering, but soon Sarah shifted into Agent Walker which caused the doctor to gulp and finally agree, "Good, because he is obviously dangerous and when I am done with him after this I don't want any of us to have to think about him ever again. Also trust me in that he will also understand what he's done to Chuck is completely unacceptable."

Sarah's tone worried Ellie a little, "Sarah, can you make me a promise? Don't do anything you will regret either? I don't want you to lose yourself in this. I'll go look for Chuck; he usually makes his way into the pediatric ward to play video games with the kids."

Sarah couldn't hold back the smile from thinking about Chuck playing with children, up until the point where she realized that was a dream that she could never fulfill. Ellie noticed the subtle change, but merely asked Sarah to find her before she left. Giving Sarah one last Ellie Bartowski hug she tried to offer comfort with her eyes and only released her when Sarah's eyes registered acceptance. Turning down the hallway Ellie shed a tear; thankful she had made the promise because if she had the misfortune of seeing Bryce Larkin again she could not imagine being able to hold back from doing something she would regret.

 _ **A/N: There are so many things going through my mind. For those thinking Sarah was far too passive, until she told Chuck the truth and about only some of the things Bryce had done she had been able to write it off as a sacrifice for the good old 'greater good'. Hearing herself say those things out loud made her realize she was a victim and with Bryce's arrival felt powerless in any potential confrontation. Also, I will probably have to concentrate on finishing one of my two current stories as I'm feeling details blur between the two. I have also put myself in a bit of a conundrum: Larkin is so loathsome he has to die and in a fantastically gruesome way, but I cannot allow any of the characters who deserve to end him to bring themselves down to that level to make it so. I call this my Patriot syndrome, Jason Isaacs created such a tremendous villain his eventual death was almost anticlimactic. Last for those needing the confrontation between Bryce and Sarah it will happen at the beginning of the next chapter as I am thinking of combining Cougars and Tom Sawyer and I know I kind of need a break with everything else in this chapter. As always thanks for reading and reviewing.**_


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: Still debating on which story to try and finish first. The original plan on incorporating vs. Cougars and vs. Tom Sawyer in this chapter was scrapped as I keep on having these other little ideas pop while I am writing. Thanks for the continued support.**_

 **A Different Kind of Couple**

 **Chapter 6**

As she prepared to open the door Sarah paused. Not only considering what Ellie just said, but also a number of other people. Hell, even her boss seemed to be under the impression her ex-partner was not to be long for the Earth and it made sense. A large portion of her wanted to do just that, but her thoughts drifted to how would Chuck react and that surprised her. She took a deep breath allowing her mind to think back to the conversation with Beckman; hoping that Casey would come clean soon so she could tell Chuck the full conversation they had. Resolving that for the moment and recognizing the détente with Beckman gave her the confidence she would need to carry on this conversation with Larkin. She closed her eyes and when she opened them she was immersed in Agent Walker mode; despite not knowing the endgame she knew that she could not allow Larkin a millimeter.

Stepping into the room, Larkin's breathing was ragged. There were so many easy ways to eliminate him: add something to his IV, erase the maximum on his morphine drip, but sometimes the old ways are still the best as she found an extra pillow in the closet. She allowed herself to smile as she gripped the pillow and headed towards the bed thinking this was how she wanted this to happen.

The instinct for self-preservation is in every person. For a spy it needs to be highly attuned or you will not make it very far. Bryce Larkin may have been wanting in almost virtually aspect that separates humans from the other members of the animal kingdom, but since the preservation instinct is encompassed throughout all animals his was quite strong. Despite the morphine induced slumber, the lack of oxygen combined with something pressing down on his face initially brought a burst of adrenaline. After realizing his hands were cuffed to the side of the bed; panic started to creep in as he rattled off all the things he could recall about the entire situation before he fell asleep. The panic came full bore as he heard a giggle and whether it was from the lack of oxygen or that her 'Enforcer' persona turned him on, but his body went into a spasm.

The pillow was lifted from his face and after taking a few moments to gather as much oxygen as he could he opened his eyes to the emotionless glare of the Enforcer.

"Sarah how could you let Chuck do this to me?" Was what Bryce said.

Having had his jaw wired shut made communication appear difficult, however Agent Walker coolly siphoned out every word and with a smile that was in no way friendly or comforting she retorted, "I think we both underestimated him a little. If I had known how easily he could take you out I wouldn't have had a knife out ready to go through your throat."

Bryce became a little unnerved, "Why?" came out more as a whine.

"Why? Go back to your Stanford days and what you did to him. Getting him expelled and sleeping with his girlfriend; doing either is more than enough to get the beating you deserved, not to mention sending him the Intersect and having the possible full bore of the US Intelligence agencies after him. But the truth is he did it for me. For the things you did to me that I was able to share, the way you made me feel less than human… The funny thing is now that I am no longer afraid of you I can admit that I had been." Seeing the beginning of the Larkin snarky smirk Sarah brought the pillow and laid it on his chest that quickly stopped the progress the corners of his mouth were making and retreated to a frown.

"That is actually the main reason why you are still alive. If I was afraid of you, you'd already be dead… You doubt me?" Bryce took a moment and looked at her and quickly determined she was speaking the truth and shook his head.

"Good, while I would think most people would naturally assume the next statement, I cannot let you use my not saying this as the excuse for you showing your face here again. There is nothing but pain and death for you here. I will take you out the next moment I see you outside this hospital, Casey obviously will shoot first; how much time did Chuck give you after seeing you? Even the General reminded me that there is an empty grave not too far away with your name on it. Really your only hope is that I'm pissed off enough to let you live for a while, waiting to hear you beg for death."

Sarah paused as Bryce swallowed, although his mind was dulled from the morphine he was able to realize there was little room to maneuver. He would address this once he had healed as he was due his bounty for his service, but first he had to heal. Unable to turn his entire body away from her he merely turned his head to signify he was done with this conversation.

Sarah however was not as she roughly grabbed his head by his nose and pulled his head to face yours, "You're already planning something," Sarah stated after looking into his swollen beady eyes and shook her head, "Well, we will be waiting for you then."

Sarah rose, turned and walked out in a casual pace that gave no semblance of concern regarding the occupant of the bed. She did not look back or pause upon opening the door and leaving the room. She kept the cool façade until she turned the corner and leaned back against the wall releasing a breath. Her mind quickly moved to hypercritical mode if this was the right tactic. If she had been emotional, let him know exactly what she thought of him and not killed him he would conclude there was something emotional holding her back and since Bryce's believes the world revolves around his ego that emotion would be caring for him. Sarah involuntarily shuddered at that before she was enveloped in a hug and a soft voice asking if she was all right.

"Ellie, you didn't have to wait for me."

"I didn't," Ellie gave a sly smile, "I checked on a few patients so I wasn't just waiting on you. Come on I got a call Chuck is in pediatrics and we need to get him out before he challenges the entire wing on whatever game he's able to find."

Sarah didn't hold back the giggle and they made their way to the elevator bank. They were both surprised as it was fairly quiet and both scanned the room looking for Chuck. Sarah spotted him first as he somehow folded himself sitting at a kiddie table next to a young blonde girl in a wheelchair who had casts on both of her arms and was directing Chuck with something on the table. Sarah didn't even try to stop the look of adoration until the thought crossed her mind 'you can never give him this'.

Ellie was always curious about the dynamic between her brother and Sarah. They were obviously enamored with one another, but she hadn't been able to get any information on why they sometimes struggled so mightily. A potentially major piece of the puzzle was given to her upstairs in Bryce Larkin. Chuck obviously knew about the two and that would put him in a perpetual attempt at one-upping the douchebag; most likely blowing up in his face and potentially aggravating Sarah. On Sarah's part, Ellie could understand her trust issues; going from Bryce to Chuck had to have given her emotional whiplash. Seeing the look suddenly shift on Sarah's face gave her concern especially after their eyes met and Ellie could see the sadness.

"I can't give Chuck that, I could never be a mother." Sarah barely whispered and started to close herself off as Ellie tried to register if Sarah meant physically or from a lack of self-confidence. Either way she was somewhat glad she had made the promise to Sarah to leave that man alone because she was certain he had some responsibility for that statement.

All Ellie could do was simply put an arm around her shoulder, but soon teasingly whispered, "Sarah, maybe you should go over there instead of staring at him." She held back a giggle at Sarah's scowl as her eyes were still showing that sadness. "Sarah, I think neither of you are ready for that step yet anyways. When you get to that point just be honest with him and I'm sure you can work it out."

That brought a smile and some moisture from Sarah who in turn wrapped both arms around Ellie and in a hopeful, but shy way asked, "Are we friends?"

Ellie was not completely taken aback from her question, but pushed away the thoughts on how Sarah could not have a large amount of friends. Knowing she had to respond quickly, "Of course we are. Even though I hope you two have the fairy tale romance I think you both deserve. As long as you are honest with him and even it doesn't work out. I'd be honored to have you as a friend."

Sarah sniffled and hugged a little tighter which in turn allowed Ellie to tear up. Ellie reached into a pocket of her scrubs and pulled out some tissues, handing one to Sarah while taking the other. After composing themselves Ellie gave a playful push to Sarah signaling her to go to Chuck. Taking the less than subtle hint she walked up to the table; her mood lightening as she moved closer hearing the soft giggles coming from the little girl. Staring down at the table she could see they were working on a puzzle. The little girl would try to explain to Chuck where she wanted the piece and he was being playfully obstinate turning the pieces before putting them down.

"Can I help?" Sarah asked as she knelt down to the level of the other two. The girl happily nodded and Chuck couldn't hold back his top smile showing the relief he felt that Sarah's 'talk' with Bryce was over. Sarah grabbed the piece she was directed to and placed it exactly how it should go that caused a sigh to escape from the little girl's lips.

The little girl with her blue eyes looking at Sarah asked, "Are you a princess?"

Sarah smiled and shook her head, "My name is Sarah, what's yours?"

"Katie and this is Chuck. Chuck isn't very good at puzzles." Sarah laughed and Chuck mock pouted until Sarah reached across the table and intertwined her fingers with Chuck's. The little girl seemingly went into a deep thinking mode before she cautiously asked, "Are you the friend Chuck was waiting for?" Sarah quirked an eyebrow at Chuck who subtly nodded before turning to Katie and offered a dramatic nod, "I didn't think boys and girls can be friends."

The two people on the sides of her answered in stereo, "Of course they can."

Chuck paused fairly certain Sarah wouldn't go on to a 'jinx, double jinx, etc. spiel' and soon stated, "Yes she is and now that she is here we can stop practicing with this one and move on to this." He put a box on the table that had a picture of a cat on it that caused Katie to squeal with glee for a moment while Chuck cleared away the other puzzle and making sure all the pieces were back in that box before opening the 'cat' box. The little girl gulped at how many pieces there were, 64, but soon looked on her lap at the picture the puzzle represented and Chuck and Sarah got to do the puzzle twice before Katie had to go back to her room.

"So how did it go?" Chuck asked trepidatiously as they entered the Nerd Herder.

"Hopefully he got the message." Sarah explained as she described both what she said and how she said it before almost flooring Chuck by asking, "Do you think that was the right way?" Chuck gave out a semi worried look that Sarah interpreted as his 'why are you asking me' one. "You've dealt with Bryce longer than I have. I figured any emotional outburst he would interpret as any feeling towards him."

Chuck nodded, but sadly looked to Sarah, "Sarah, it might not matter. I agree that was the best of the options you probably had, but his narcissism has exponentially grown. He could easily view your nonchalance as a challenge to 'win' you back." In a much softer tone, "I am glad that you didn't kill him, although knowing him it could be something we regret. If he does come back here he is digging his own grave… Hey, do you mind not going out tonight I'm kind of tired."

Sarah simply said, "Sure," before adding, "Maybe we can pick up some take out and go back to my room. I wouldn't mind a simple night in either… unless you meant you wanted to be alone."

"Sarah… no… I mean I just figured we've been spending a lot of time together. I don't want you to get tired of me."

Sarah smiled at the rambling and the thought of spending too much time with Chuck. She hoped Chuck was focusing on the road as she felt a small blush creeping on her last thought. She couldn't deny the job implications her constant vigil implied as well. If Beckman was going to make a move it would be immediate; her reputation screamed it. Every time she had been challenged she responded quickly. She was also renowned for her poker face and during their talk the General's façade had cracked, but Sarah would need to be wary especially making sure they maintained their rep as the most effective weapon against Fulcrum.

"Chuck, let's stop by and pick up your Buy More uni so we can just go straight to work tomorrow. Do you mind something besides pizza or sizzling shrimp?"

Chuck involuntarily straightened as Sarah's first request left little doubt she wanted him to stay over. The second was the one he was more concerned about as those were his staples, when the spot hit him, "Ok, got the place, but you have to try the hot dog and not the burger."

Chuck quickly made a lane transfer and Sarah saw that they were headed into LA and they pulled up to Pink's Hot Dogs. Chuck couldn't hide his joy as Sarah chose the Lord of the Rings Dog, while he chose the Bacon Burrito Dog with a side of sauerkraut. The man who took the order stopped for a moment looked at the two of them and gave Chuck an 'Are you sure' glance when Sarah added their Nacho Chili Cheese Fries the person resumed punching in the order as two root beers completed the order. Both were stuffed as they left and Chuck made it back to his place, brushing his teeth was the first stop as soon as he went inside. Sarah declined the offer of an unused toothbrush, but did rinse her mouth with Scope twice before they made it back to her residence.

Their appetite satiated and with the events of the broken date up to the encounter with Bryce had allowed little time for rest, so neither offered any resistance as they both accepted the pull Sarah's bed had on them. The only movement after either hit the bed was Sarah's feet migrating towards the warmth Chuck's feet were radiating.

Waking up gave Sarah a mixed countenance; she felt completely rested, but felt something missing. That was Chuck; noticing her feet were starting to feel a little cold again she called out to Chuck, but seeing the door to her bathroom was open she quickly made her way off the bed. Immediately finding his clothes from last night now sitting neatly folded next to hers as well relaxed Sarah as both had just literally peeled off their clothes as they walked towards the bed. She laughed to herself thinking how the clothes strewn in a path to the bed could easily be interpreted as something completely different. She stopped her musings wondering what the acronym PWP stands for and where she had possibly heard that before as she heard her door start to open.

Always at the ready she reached for her weapon by her bed and pointed it as she saw a tall man walk in holding a bag in his teeth, a beverage carrier with two Styrofoam containers in one hand and Sarah's keys in the other. He froze at the weapon and the look the spy was giving him.

"Sarah I know we both have plenty of time to get to work, I just wanted to get this for you. Did you sleep well?"

The last question relaxed Sarah's features and in turn relaxed Chuck, "Did you leave a note?" Chuck's hemming and hawing answered the question as she approached him. "While I appreciate the gesture, we can't afford to let anything happen to you." She tried to soften the blow by gently rubbing his cheek and taking the bag out of his mouth so he could respond.

"You're right; I should have left a note. It isn't my style leaving after spending the night with a … umm… you know, even though nothing happened, it should still be proper to leave a note, although I'm unsure Miss Manners has addressed this current situation. If you want to put the bag back in my mouth at any time I'll still need some time to figure out what I'm trying to say."

Sarah did give Chuck a look he had not seen before and couldn't begin to gauge where it fell, possibly introspective, but he made his way to the small table in her room an placed her coffee on the chair opposite his. She soon sat down and smiled as they ate their breakfast and Sarah got ready. Both accepted the quiet and until they made their way to the parking garage as Sarah stopped at her Porsche did Chuck break it.

"I'm sorry I worried you. I wasn't thinking and can only imagine that you were upset waking up and not knowing where I was."

"Chuck, I wasn't punishing you by not talking to you. I hope you know that. I'm glad you understand why despite how nice it was; if you had let me know where you were going… just in case." Sarah hid the sadness behind the Agent Walker mask before relaxing a little, "And that me driving my Porsche isn't trying to spend less time with you."

That got a laugh from Chuck, "Sarah, I would much rather sit in your passenger seat than drive the Herder. I can only imagine how difficult the opposite is. But I do have to bring it back… I do think the 'extra' service calls should cover the mileage I put on it this weekend. See you for lunch?"

"Probably earlier than that; I'll check in Castle to see if anything has come up. Also maybe find out how long our unwanted guest is required to stay in the area, but I'll stop in before lunch."

Sarah got into her car and slowly followed Chuck to his car which caused an eye roll on his part and a shoulder shrug on hers and they were off to work.

 _ **A/N: v. Cougars would slot right in here for those wondering where we are. I don't think there are any major differences that my change would cause. The only item being with Sarah hitting the bag Chuck would be more concerned about anybody knowing Sarah's secret than gathering info. We'll fast forward to the steak vs. hamburger scene.**_

"I never doubted you for a second Special… Chuck."

Chuck smiled knowing even though it would have been merely playful in recognizing Carmichael, but Sarah wanted to make sure Chuck knew she simply appreciated him. Although the smile faded as it looked like Sarah was reliving some memory from her past. "Sarah, are you ok?"

The amount of concern brought her back from the thoughts of meeting Graham for the first time and quickly hoping for the hamburger as just the thought of her former boss brought a taste in her mouth she wanted to get rid of. "I'm fine… Well I was just thinking about my Dad getting locked up and Graham meeting me at the emergency pack my father left for me. Although I have told you a lot of things, I'm sure there's a lot of other things you want to know about you can ask."

Chuck paused for a moment before he started to say something then immediately stopped. He swallowed and Sarah could see some emotion building and was starting to question her previous statement. "Sarah, I just need to know… well I hope… ahh… The things you have shared with me I know are huge and what I'm about to ask may not seem so, but while you were growing up was there something that you loved or made you feel safe. I know that you want to say your dad, but the obvious thing from the reunion is that everybody was beguiled by your beauty, but and I am not saying this to make you feel sad, that's the last thing I want to do. None of them really knew the first thing about you. I know it is their loss, but was or is there something?"

Sarah looked at Chuck and at first wondered where it was going, but with his statement of it being their loss she felt the pangs that happened whenever Chuck got her lady feelings all squishy. So she concentrated and thankfully the remnants of Graham left her mind for the time. The answer she came up with embarrassed her and she felt her neck turn red and hissed at herself that Chuck knew she had the answer.

"Sarah, if you don't want to tell me that's ok. I just wanted to make sure there was something for you that could make you smile."

Sarah groaned as she knew she couldn't keep it from him now, "Ok, but you have to promise not to laugh."

Chuck gave what Sarah assumed to be some type of Boy Scout symbol, or something that he and Morgan had devised as kids to show their loyalty to one another. "When I was little the first stuffed animal I ever got was this dog and I carried it all around. Even after I left with my father I would fall asleep with Bunny and put him in my go bag when I'd leave for school. Before we left for San Diego and Jenny Burton, we were in Wisconsin and I still had him. Granted he was stitched up and perhaps a little worse for wear, but… anyways my father picks me up and I see my go bag and suitcase in the back seat and know we are moving on. We stopped for the night in South Dakota. He went to take a shower while I unpacked my sleepwear. I soon tore through both my duffle and suitcase looking for Bunny when I remembered I was feeling a little sad when I woke up that morning and when I was little I would have him sitting at the edge of the bed looking at the door so when I got home and opened it he was there… I was miserable the entire trip… well probably longer than that." Feeling completely embarrassed she looked down, but was soon comforted by feeling an arm wrap around her from behind.

"I was a little tentative, because I figured you would just do a judo throw. Despite the many things you are wonderful at, accepting unexpected physical contact is not one of them." He followed up by kissing the top of Sarah's head, "Thank you for telling me."

At that point Sarah's phone rang. They both allowed for a chuckle as Casey's scowl appeared on the phone, but on the third ring she allowed herself to answer it as Chuck released her and moved to grab something to drink.

"Walker it's time." Was all that was said and before Sarah could answer the connection was dead.

 _ **A/N: The Sarah/Bryce confrontation may have been anticlimactic for some, but how I had Sarah approach it appeared to be the best in a strategic sense of accomplishing her goal of getting rid of Larkin without killing him. Please let me know if my in story A/N was unnecessary or detracted from your reading or if you felt it helped with understanding where we are at in terms of canon. As always I welcome your thoughts and if one of them is to start moving the story along, I can understand that. Thanks to those reading and reviewing.**_


	7. Chapter 7

_**A/N: A slight disappointment for those thinking I am fully back on board with this. I was able to locate a thumb drive that I happened to write out the vast majority of this particular chapter. I am still planning on getting this one going full bore again. I know I needed to reread the first 6 chapters to catch me back up on this story.**_

 _ **A/N2: Things should start to move away from pure canon after Tom Sawyer and have a little more mission items included within the chapters. Also my time frame is more compacted than canon; right now heading into this we are a week after Sarah's confession.**_

 **A Different Kind of Couple**

 **Chapter 7**

"Chuck," Sarah attempted to get the attention of the man a few steps ahead of him.

The sudden stop and turn of that man almost resulted in a Keystone Cops collision, instead the spy was able to pause, but not before putting her hands on Chuck's chest. The light ministrations her hands were instinctively making engrossed Sarah. Chuck's exaggerated throat clearing snapped her out of the stupor she was in.

"Sorry."

"What did you want?"

It took a moment for her to recall, "Umm, I just want you to know that I will never let anything happen to you, ever."

Chuck gave her a 'duh' look and calmly proceeded to Interrogation Room 2; where they found Casey sitting on the prisoner side with his normal weapon and backup on the table in front of him.

"What is this about?" Chuck asked nervously.

"There's something I have to tell you and I thought this would make you feel more secure. Walker can pat me down." As Chuck was about to protest he didn't have to do that Sarah had started the pat down and frowned as she found an ankle holster with a snubnose in it. "Damn, forgot about Lucy, most nights I fall asleep forgetting to take her off." At the questioning looks his partners were giving him he sputtered out, "Right, like Walker sleeps without her knives."

Chuck looked over to Sarah who had secured the guns and she calmly replied with a subtle shake of her head, "The holder chafes if I sleep with it on."

Casey rolled his eyes before blustering, "Ok, bolt me in and turn on the monitor. Also I'm running a standard loop so don't worry about the surveillance." The first cycle of the loop unbeknownst to the three sent an alert to a cabin where somebody else was watching with interest.

After Casey was locked in he tried to speak, but found he had no idea on where to start. Unable to come up with one he simply grunted for Sarah to hit play. On the monitor Chuck could see it was Casey's apartment and the camera was over his shoulder allowing a clear view of the monitor with Graham and Beckman scowling when Chuck heard the plans for his eventual demise he almost shut down. Sarah paused it and put her hand on Chuck's shoulder; the momentary flinch sent a shake through her as well before Chuck placed his hand on top of hers bringing a relaxed feature to both their faces that Casey was quickly able to notice.

"Bartowski, there are things you are going to see that you are not going to like, but I think it is important you see it all and then you make up your mind, ok?"

Chuck solemnly nodded and Sarah pressed play once more and they saw Casey attempting to sway the two bosses to no avail. There was also a target practice session where he missed Chuck. Chuck also noticed Casey's protestations stopped once the possibility of replacing him was put on the table. Chuck motioned to pause it.

"Why did you stop after they threatened to replace you?"

"Kid, they were telling me that they had reached their limit. If I had done anymore bitching they would have recalled me immediately and told you I had to do my shooting or flying qual's. The person coming in would be your killer. Not knowing who they may have sent; it could have been somebody whose specialty was bombs, or not care whether Ellie or Devon were around or make it look like an overdose. As long as the target was eliminated with plausible deniability for the government the amount of extra casualties or resulting consequences doesn't matter. We are almost done so we can finish it and any other questions you have you can ask."

Chuck nodded and after pressing play it came to another practice session and this time when the bullet hit Chuck's picture the two were shocked as in picture Casey looked at the gun and threw it to the ground.

"I can't believe you did that to Betty." Leapt from Chuck's mouth.

"I apologized later." Everybody remained silent as they watched him on screen pull out his Johnnie Walker Black and proceed to drink from the bottle. It then quickly cut to Chuck's living room where he and Sarah were talking at the door and Sarah pointed out Casey lurking in the background. Chuck was nervously bouncing his right leg and Sarah was balling her hands into fists then flexing at a very fast rate. Casey knew he deserved whatever happens; he also wanted to make sure he looked them in the eye to show them he held no animosity towards them.

"You would have done it?" came out timidly from Chuck.

"Yes," the immediacy of the answer surprised Sarah, the complete conviction did that for Chuck, "After mistreating Betty I had to resolve myself that if this had to be done then I had to do it right: Chuck to not feel anything and no other casualties. While it clearly wasn't what you deserved; you earned the right for me to be at my best… for my last."

"Last?"

"After it was done I was going to call Walker. I didn't want your sister discovering the body… and it would allow Walker to say good bye to you."

"What?" Chuck mumbled.

"After I confirmed the… umm, mission; they would call Walker immediately to extract her. Most likely saying our covers were blown and I had already taken you underground. They knew she was compromised enough if you had been injured she would not leave. If you were killed is another story." Chuck stared at Casey to continue, instead Sarah spoke.

"I would kill all responsible." Casey gulped and nodded to that as Chuck turned to look at the stone cold stare on Sarah's face turn into a frown.

Chuck was flummoxed and needed to think and sit. Pulling the chair opposite Casey out he offered it to Sarah; that brought a tiny smile to her face and when she declined Chuck sat in it and put his head in his hands. Sarah debated whether to offer any support and finally decided not to since Chuck needed to process this for himself. If he asked she would gladly tell him her opinion, but she was torn. She still felt hurt by the betrayal from Casey, yet she was used to the developments that the spy world offers. For Chuck this lined up with nearly everything that has happened with the major people and institutions in his life: his parents, Bryce, Jill, Stanford, and now Casey and the CIA/NSA. Sarah could tell exactly where Chuck's mind was at, but didn't want to guess what side she was on; the aforementioned one or the one with Ellie, Devon, and Morgan as those that haven't torn his psyche apart.

As she pondered this she felt warmth on her shoulder and turned to see a troubled Chuck. Her smile was muted by his look, but seeing her smile lightened him. He motioned with his head towards the door and she nodded before looking to Casey, "Casey, Chuck and I are going to step out for a moment."

Casey nodded as the two were stepping out Chuck turned, "Casey, we aren't going to leave you here, ok."

Casey gave a sincere smile, "Whatever you two decide Chuck, I will abide by." Then the door closed.

Chuck quickly asked, "Do you think if they ordered him to do it again would he do it?"

Sarah brought a finger to her lips and after careful consideration, "I'm sorry Chuck, I don't think so, but if push came to shove. I don't think it is in him to disobey a direct order, but it wouldn't surprise me if he creates a contingency plan."

"Have you?"

"Yes, after the mess with Longshore and the pita girl I knew I had to put in motion a few thoughts that I had only started."

"Would you have shot Longshore on the roof?"

"Yes… Leaving me in that freezer was more than enough reason to. I wouldn't want to have killed him, especially as I neither had any firm plans yet, nor an idea if that would be what you would want. Your disappearance on top of a Federal officer's death would have brought far too much heat without a solid plan in place." Sarah took a deep breath before continuing, "By running with me, you would have no contact with Ellie or Morgan most likely for the rest of your life." The conflict was readily apparent and the instinct to comfort him overwhelmed Sarah and she leaned up on her toes and kissed him.

"Sarah… what are you doing?" Chuck stammered.

Sarah attempted to speak, but couldn't vocalize what she was feeling so she attempted to place her hands on Chuck's face. Chuck caught her hands with his and tried to look at her sympathetically. "Sarah, I'm not ready to go beyond friendship. I know I'm the one sending mixed signals now, but do you think we can talk about this later?"

Sarah nodded as she knew dealing with Casey was the more pressing issue. She spoke the first thing that popped in her head, "What it comes down to is can you trust him again? Finding something that can give you some peace of mind; otherwise we can get another NSA agent in, but it would be starting from square one… actually whatever would be before that as we have the memory of Casey's betrayal right there for both of us no matter whomever they sent."

Chuck turned away from Sarah for a moment caught up in his thoughts. Her brow beginning to furrow from his action was stopped as Chuck turned around with his 'puzzle solved' face on.

"I have it, let's see if the big guy really wants to pay the price for staying." Chuck opened the door back up to see Casey sitting fairly calmly which threw Chuck off for a moment until they heard the muffled sound of a phone ringing. Casey was about to say 'It's mine' when Sarah had already opened the drawer it was in and looked at the screen. She looked at Casey, shook her head slightly as she bit her lip, released a breath and answered the phone.

"Good morning General… No, this is Casey's phone he is literally tied up right now as he is demonstrating to Chuck the ways to escape from cuffs or rope… obviously we will do our utmost to prevent the possibility, but… Yes, thank you General… no broken thumbs for the Major, understood… he will contact you very shortly. Goodb… She hung up."

"What did she…?"

"First, Chuck you had something?" Sarah stopped Casey's question.

"Yes… thanks. Ok Casey there is a way you can stay, but you have to share something real with us. That way I can begin to trust you again."

"Ok, did Walker share… what am I talking about of course she shared something real with you." Casey laughed to himself for a moment before he fully remembered where he was and why he was there.

"No." Chuck defiantly stated, "I don't need to hear about chocolate and peanut butter and especially not that mayonnaise and tuna fish one again." Chuck gave a slight shiver and Casey even looked squeamish as it had sounded much better in his head than when spoken out loud. Sarah could only look with a quirked eyebrow; curious as to what exactly was said because it was easy to extrapolate the essence, but the reaction from both gave her mixed feelings on whether she should let this particular dog lie.

Casey closed his eyes for a minute. When he opened them it was apparent there was conflict in them, "What did the General want?" He asked once again.

Sarah looked at both before responding, "Bryce is in good enough condition to transport and she wants you to accompany him back to DC. She believes there's a less likely chance for him to be tossed out of the plane if you do it instead of me."

They all gave a brief chuckle to that and when Casey still hadn't said anything, Chuck chose to break the uncomfortable silence, "Listen if you need time, go ahead and take Bryce and if you still cannot share. It would probably be easier for you to stay there."

Casey looked melancholy and then shook his head, "Fine; I just never thought I'd be willing to do anything in order to stay on a team with a spook skirt and a nerd."

Chuck waited for Casey to continue when he realized the last statement was what he chose to share. He looked to Sarah who had come to the same realization and had a thoroughly unimpressed look. "I know that was very uncomfortable for you to share with us, but I meant something more real about you."

Chuck looked over to Sarah and made a quick gesture followed by Sarah tossing the keys over to him and Chuck quickly unlocked the Major. "It's ok; you'll have some time to think about it on the flight."

Sarah opened the drawers containing Casey's guns and allowed them both to leave before she pulled out her phone and made a call. She stepped out afterwards to see Chuck sitting at their normal meeting table drumming his hands on it with a serious look on his face. Sarah walked over and asked, "Chuck, what's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong… it's just if Casey is gone I guess that means we're going to be together nonstop. Not that there's anything wrong with that it's just I don't want to say anything stupid right now… and I think I just did." Chuck's shoulders drooped and his head drifted down buoyed off the table by his biceps.

Sarah tried to fill in the blanks from the blather Chuck had just spit out when it dawned on her how much time they had spent together recently. Apart from being held by the Black Widow and his nap between Montgomery leaving and the Brycehole showing up they had been pretty much joined at the hip. She gave an encouraging smile to Chuck who was still looking down so she sighed and bent down and touched his arm. Rotating his head he could see the look on her face and he chuckled while straightening his body into a more relaxed seated position.

Sarah took a quick look and saw that the loop was still on, "I doubt they would bring somebody new in here because I would be highly suspicious. What she is probably going to do is put all the agencies from San Diego to Las Vegas to San Francisco on high alert. If something happens I'll have proximity to a huge amount of resources."

"What if something happens to you?"

"As long as nothing happens to you I'll figure something out." Sarah anticipated the adamant 'Chuck is not staying in the car' look and quickly said, "No, you are irreplaceable and not just because of the stupid program in your head. You say that you trust me and this would be the time to prove it."

A loud clearing of the throat caused both to turn towards Casey, "Walker, the General wants a word with you."

Sarah stood from the crouch she had been in and gave a quick suspicious look to Casey before striding off to the monitor and Casey took the seat next to Chuck as he started to shut off the loop, but paused, "Kid, I will come up with something. This is the best team I've been a part of and I'm not going to be the one to bring it down. Hell, it wouldn't surprise me if we're not the top team in the world… and you are right. Trust is an important part of that, probably the most important… Any message you want me to deliver to Larkin?" Casey quickly changed back to his usual authority laced voice, but it was lighter than normal.

"Surprisingly nothing verbal, but if he were to arrive in DC without his eyebrows and you can tell him, if you want, 'that was for pledge week' I think that would send a message." At Casey's smirk Chuck added, "I'll tell you about pledge week after you come back to the team. I'm more than happy to forgive, but I don't forget. Tell Sarah my shift started at the Buy More and I'll see her for lunch. Have a good trip Casey."

"You have a good day too Chuck." Stated a stunned Major, the Carmichael inflection he used on the key sentence of what he said completely made its point. A smile crept upon his face for a moment thinking Bartowski may have what it takes to thrive and not just survive. He made sure to put his stone façade back on before Walker came back as he finally shut off the repeating video.

 _ **A/N: This is not where I had originally intended to stop as this is about where I was before I started with Killer Pimp, but it allows for a natural stop in the story. Chuck's shift would start us on vs. Tom Sawyer and we will see how that goes. Thanks to those reading this and let me know what you think.**_


	8. Chapter 8

_**A/N: After re-reading the entire story, I had forgotten that it wasn't as deathly serious as I had thought. However, with the long delay and loss of notes the story cannot follow exactly from here on as I originally thought and hopefully that will end up as a good thing. The main outcome will be the same, but in the immortal words of Clark Griswold, "Getting there is half the fun".**_

"So you spend one night with Jeff. You seem like you want some time apart." Sarah frowned, not liking the whiny tone she heard in her voice.

"Sarah, I never said that. It's just I think with everything that has happened… it has been a huge emotional roller coaster for both of us _ **.**_ I also know with Casey gone for however long, you are alone on the surveillance end. I don't want to make things more difficult than they already are." Chuck added placatingly.

"And you don't want to be alone with Jeff." Sarah retorted with a smirk.

"And I don't want to be alone with Jeff." Chuck shrugged his shoulders with the admission.

"The other things you said were thoughtful Chuck, and you are right about us having been joined at the hip lately, but after Casey's explanation I hope you can understand at least some part of it. I am not exactly thrilled about what my plans are for tonight either, but Ellie insisted after the hospital that tonight is a 'Girl's night'. What will that entail?" Chuck could hear the nervousness at the end of the question.

"I'm not trying to be a smartass when I say I've never been to one so I don't know." Sarah raised her eyebrow, "I'm not… and the closest thing I can possibly relate it to would be the tea parties I was forced to attend…"

"Forced? You are one of the most stubborn… Forget that. It was Ellie, I understand."

"If I had to guess I would say how much she will try to get out of you is dependent upon how many bottles of wine she has out on the counter. Also, she may bring up my lack of ambition…" At Sarah's puzzled look, "When I first heard about me being retired from the Intersect program I started spouting off about restarting my life: quitting the Buy More, maybe travel around Europe and then find some school out of town to enroll and finally get my degree. I didn't even consider 'retirement' in the Mafioso capacity."

There appeared to be a common thread amongst his Intersect-free wishes and wanted to confirm without seeming accusatory and take some focus on his concern. She lightly grabbed one of his hands and at his inquisitive look she stated, "Were you planning on telling me you were leaving town before our third date?" Sarah paused and winced as she had forgotton the implications a third date meant to the non-spy world.

Chuck's eyes opened widely after hearing the words leave her lips, after swallowing clumsily he couldn't look up; until he felt Sarah's hand squeeze his. Moving his head up he could easily surmise by Sarah's look she did not mean that in a teasing way, "I had planned to share my thoughts over dinner that night and get your input… to be totally honest I was going to ask if you wanted to go away for our third date… Not that I was thinking it would be easier… No, no I would never, ever think you were easy; actually it would be the opposite." Chuck immediately face-palmed himself and tilted his head so that it was parallel to the ground after uttering the last phrase.

The next thing he felt was a soft hand cupping his cheek with a thumb lightly grazing over his skin; Chuck instinctually leaned into the hand savoring the contact. He cautiously opened his eyes thinking he overstepped both with his words and recent action; instead her eyes offered comfort. For a brief moment there was a flicker of something he had never seen from her before, but he recognized it from looking into his mirror: fear.

This caused a slight frown on Chuck, who immediately mumbled, "I'm sorry."

Sarah's response of a quirked eyebrow while her face showed curiosity let Chuck know she had no idea what he was apologizing for. He couldn't help the smile that soon came through as he could see Sarah parse through their dialogue trying to determine what she had overlooked. However, watching her frustration level rise his smile began to dissipate. Surprising the both of them he brought her into a hug and whispered into her ear, "I apologized because I saw a glimpse of fear in your eyes."

Chuck could hear the pause as Sarah caught her breath before recovering and state, "Chuck, you know I'm not scar…"

Chuck stopped her with, "Sarah, we both know what you were about to say isn't completely true, and that's ok. I know you need to maintain that mentality while doing your job or you wouldn't be the best. But you don't need to hide that from me, especially if I'm the jerk that causes…"

"Chuck, stop."

Assuming Sarah was about to get angry he immediately let go, but was confused as she tightened her grip around him. As he began to bring his arms around her again she loosened her grip to step to the side of him facing the opposite way she dropped her head on his shoulder finishing with a soft sigh.

"You're not going to hip-toss me are you?"

Sarah lifted her head as she let loose the biggest laugh Chuck had ever seen from her. He turned his head and Sarah acknowledged it with a quick shake. After the laugh subsided Sarah sighed and dragged Chuck into the Armory and sat him on a bench and positioned themselves in roughly the positions that they were recently in as she snuggled her head onto his shoulder while not facing each other. Chuck didn't want to open his mouth to ask what was going on for fear of the potential repercussion. Then he somehow began to feel her relax and was simply content to not disturb her.

After a minute Sarah quietly began to speak with, "How?... Never mind with that. First, I reserve the right to being the only person who can call you a jerk. Anybody, including yourself; that calls you by a derogatory name will have to deal with me."

Chuck pondered what Sarah said for a moment, "What about Ellie?"

"She gets an exemption where she gets to explain; since she raised you." She let out a long breath before speaking once again, "I wanted this to be a surprise; especially as I am still working on finalizing the final details, but I am working on helping you get your degree due you from Stanford with the help of your favorite professor."

"What? How? When?"

"I know since that bastard sent you the email you have pretty much given everything you can and gotten little in return. You deserve this and so much more." Chuck swallowed audibly from the emotion in Sarah's voice as she finished.

Knowing she needed a moment Chuck interceded, "Did he remember me?"

Sarah gave a chortle before answering, "Yes, however I did say I was your girlfriend when I called." She took a halted breath for Chuck to respond, with only silence she continued, "He asked how you were and what you were doing. So I told him the truth… to a point, but informed him the main reason was that you were applying for a position you really wanted and were more than qualified for, but became despondent after learning that a college degree was required. He paused for a moment before mentioning 'Roarke Industries' so I just said yes and he offered to look up on his records what he would require, but that there was a Professor Fleming who needed to be talked to before anything could officially be done."

Sarah paused as she felt some moisture fall on her temple and lifted her head to see Chuck trying to hold back his emotions. She reached up with her hand to brush them off the both of them before deciding to start again, this time straddling the bench and placing her chin on his shoulder, "I already had set in motion through the CIA for Fleming to start the process of voiding your dismissal. Before you say anything; after his recovery he had sent a notice asking if he could do this for you since you were with the company now. That note sat in a folder on both Graham and Beckman's desk gathering dust. The University quickly agreed; apparently a substantial lawsuit might have been mentioned. They came back with the teachers of your classes from your last semester would each have to state you've completed the necessary work and there would be no problem. Fleming has already stated to me you don't need to do anything else and in case you were wondering, he gave you an A. Your professor called this morning to state there was a master project that he needed and that would suffice for the three classes you had with him. He said he was willing to just give you the credits after all you had gone through, but didn't think you would just accept that. He then asked if you knew I went behind your back to set this up."

Chuck turned looking awestruck at everything he had just heard as Sarah gave a warm smile and continued, "After my struggle to respond; he stated the Chuck he knew would not do this for himself and would try to stop it if he found out about it. I agreed with him, but there is a tiny problem. The Statistics Professor retired and while his course notes are still there; he hadn't graded your midterm because of the scandal and he has not responded to any of the attempts to reach him. Stanford is considering offering you the option to take an online course to finish your degree, but they haven't made that decision official yet."

When Sarah stopped she looked at Chuck trying to determine what was going through his mind, but she could not gather a solid read as he was overwhelmed with multiple emotions. After almost a minute his eyes cleared and he stared as intensely as Sarah could ever recall before he uttered out in a much lower voice than usual, "Whatever unpleasant things may have already or will happen from that e-mail you need to know they could never possibly equal the fact that it brought you into my life." He stopped and turned so that they faced each other, "That is classified information, just for you." Chuck relaxed and smirked, "The rest need only understand they're putting me through hell every day."

Sarah could only beam back with a smile as she was afraid the laugh that was dying to come out would cause all the emotions she was feeling to spill out. After a minute or so she felt she had regained her composure. "Thank you Chuck," came out much rougher than either expected. She cleared her throat before beginning again, "I split up the four-person detail from LA. They are currently in two cars tailing the man who showed you the photo of Jeff. One of the cars will be turning back to keep watch of you two. It will be easiest if you can keep him in the room upstairs, so they don't have to leave Castle, but if you can't, you can offer the safe word and they will tranq him as he leaves the Buy More. Worst case, there is a single loaded tranq gun inside the console. You remember how to get to it?" She knew she had to change the topic as her emotions were beginning to take control.

Chuck nodded his head before replying, "Yes, I just hope one would be enough to knock him out. Do you think it will be ok to have the two down here in Castle unobserved?"

Sarah smiled again, "Yes, they will be locked out of anything besides the current surveillance cameras. If either tries anything Castle will go on lockdown, I will be notified, there is another team on standby at my disposal, and Beckman will be scrutinizing what is going on."

Chuck suddenly put out an extremely nervous look, "What if this is a trap to finish the job?"

Sarah immediately knowing what job he meant grabbed Chuck's hand, "First, the General may be many things, but she is not completely stupid. They are nowhere near having another Intersect on the ready and honestly with the destruction of the two labs; fiscal matters may start to become a factor, but you've done such a great job I'm sure they are working on reconstructing all the parts to get another one going. Until they have another one ready, and presumably loaded, into another person you are still far too valuable. Second, after our discussion with Casey when I talked to her directly I drew a line in the sand and anything that happens to you or your family will incur my full wrath."

The frown and stone cold visage gave Chuck a glimpse of her slipping into the 'Wild Card Enforcer'. He gently intertwined their fingers as he pressed his hand onto hers. The resultant blush/smile combination as she shyly turned away brought his smile back. He chose to reinforce her reasoning with, "You are right, Sarah. I guess I just needed to hear it. So, before my… purgatory with Jeff tonight, you think we can get something to eat?"

Sarah turned back, nodding with a big smile; although her eyes appeared a bit misted, "Sure. I just need to contact the team to check their status and make sure they know to use the Orange Orange entrance… and maybe reapply some makeup." She added the last part as Chuck did not seem the initial a good enough reason to leave her side.

Chuck started up the stairs, "Sarah, I'm just going to grab a small cup of the Coconut-Toffee while I'm up there. I hope they decide to make it a full-time flavor."

He continued talking about the yogurt even after he went past the entrance. Sarah could only stand still as the thought of an existence without him chilled her to the bone. After releasing a single tear, she went about the items she had told Chuck she was doing.

* * *

"Don't worry Chuck, you weren't in that bad of shape last night… well at least compared to Jeff. But we were able to stop a sizable plot before it got off the ground. However, you do need to brush your teeth… and talk with your sister. I had to tell her the degree part as she chugged two full glasses of Bordeaux when I told her who you were with before coming up with he was your subject for the Abnormal Psych class you were taking."

"I will never underestimate your ability of thinking on the spot," Chuck groaned out. To Sarah's now concerned look he quickly replied, "I think the moist towel on my forehead will help me feel somewhat human… ah, that efficiency expert wants to talk with me…"

Sarah scrunched her face at the mention of Emmett Millbarge, "Uh, Chuck, you don't have to worry about that."

From her look and statement Chuck immediately thought the worst, "He's dead?" croaked out.

Sarah went wide-eyed at that, "No! Definitely not; although his hangover is probably going to be worse than yours."

Chuck could only offer a confused look as his stomach was making the decision whether to accept what was currently residing in there or send it back from whence it came. Sarah, fairly astute at noticing these signs, took the covers off Chuck and surprisingly finding him in merely boxers mostly froze. Her eyes did a scan which she obstinately insisted was to check for any injuries after she had left because he had been fully clothed in the bed. Although Chuck was fairly certain her eyes seemed focused in one place shrugged as Sarah soon had to clear the way for him to make it to the bathroom in time.

After Chuck's encounter with the porcelain God she had vacated the bathroom as Chuck proceeded to take a shower. She took that time to start making coffee and check that the mass on the living room floor was still breathing. Sitting on the far end of the double vanity Sarah was concerned as she washed Chuck brush his teeth for the second time in a row. She reached out to his arm as he placed another portion of toothpaste on his brush. He calmly continued on, muttering before he started once more, "Shockingly enough I was in a fraternity and picked up a few hangover routines myself. Normally I only go for this twice, but the swill we were drinking last night… Tell me about Emmett and then the plot."

Sarah rubbed his shoulder, "I will add Ellie had over two bottles of wine last night so we may need to clear out at some point. I had to put her to bed as well. Anyways apparently Emmett was going over his assessment forms and was there while you and Jeff were watching his collection of video tapes. Do you remember the tapes?" Chuck partially groaned mumbling 'Mitchell Com ad' which Sarah correctly interpreted and nodded at. "I reviewed the footage and you flashed at that which put the pieces together. Mr. Morimoto actually designed an armed satellite for the JSDF, Japanese Self-Defense Force, that strongly stretches their charter and the game Missile Command is a key to it. Anyhow the man who was looking for Jeff was going to use him to get to a 'kill screen' which would show the unlock code for the satellite. The backup plan was to confront Morimoto, but he knew that his subsequent death could draw unwanted attention. All we could get from the terrorist Bulsara was that he was trying to start WWIII, but he passed out and is recovering from surgery." Sarah ended the last sentence softly as she swallowed and continued, "Backing up a little bit; Emmett saw the Agents coming up through Castle and you picking up Jeff and leaving as Bulsara had made his way back to the Buy More. After the melee and his group were captured I was called in."

Chuck had finished and stopped as he was about to rinse with the Large Mart generic of Scope; he quirked an eyebrow, "Was that when you went out to pick up a pizza or something? Also was there a shootout for the terrorist to need surgery?"

Sarah took a moment before answering as Chuck started his rinse, "Yes, that is when I went out and amazingly enough nobody called me on it as I came back with a frozen pizza. Jeff was still out and you and Ellie were on the verge. There wasn't a shootout, but if you don't mind I want to tell that part later." Chuck nodded while still swishing the liquid on his mouth, looking silly enough for Sarah to shake her head while smiling, "Back to Emmett, he had to be tranqued as he saw too much. There is a new drug new that causes amnesia for the previous two to three hours and knocks them out for around ten hours. Creating a disheveled scene along with a bottle of alcohol should be enough to cast doubt on any potential memories, but there will be some casual observance to make sure. The agents had already staged the scene before I got there and after only finding a wine cooler at his desk chose instead to break into Big Mike's office where they found a bottle of cognac. I felt a little bad before I found his folder labeled 'Taking over Burbank Buy More'. The first step was firing you; so when he wakes up, he'll have a black eye as well as the hangover." Chuck held back the smile as he can tell she is uneasy about something. "After judging the inside sufficient I went down to Castle where they had Bulsara in Interrogation Room 1. Sorry, no bullets were fired as the squad utilized Suburban Protocol #4 as they had a complete surprise advantage. The tail group took out the driver and look out with tranqs before they knew anything was wrong. Bulsara's companion was taken out at the door. Bulsara was only grazed, but was knocked out enough so that he didn't come to until after we cleared the parking lot. When he woke the first words out of his mouth was that 'The skinny geek that set him up was going to pay once he got out'. I stood him up and softened him with a few head and body blows and kicked him in the balls, just before he passed out I told him the real interrogation would begin when I brought out my sledge hammer." Sarah sighed and looked down.

Chuck's mind was still not firing at full capacity just yet; so the delay in realizing what Sarah was telling him plus her physical cues meshed together somewhat awkwardly, "Are you embarrassed about what you did?"

Sarah looked up to Chuck's concerned eyes, "No, not really… I just know you don't like violence."

Chuck took a moment to focus on Sarah and formed his response, "Just yesterday you said you would beat up somebody for calling me a jerk, so putting a terrorist intent on starting World War Three and threatening me in the hospital isn't overkill. As far as Emmett firing me as the first step towards taking over the Buy More is definitely worse than calling me a 'jerk'. He has no clue about me or potentially how important this job may be to me… Ok that may sound extreme, but you've been in there more than enough to answer this: if one of the majority of people they employ were to be fired from the Buy More; how easily would they be able to find another job?"

He gave Sarah a moment to think about it, but she could only shrug, "Most of them are nice…"

"No, well you are right in that most of them are nice, but for one reason or another it is difficult for them to function in a stereotypical job. I may have completely strayed from my original point, but what it comes down to is you are the most passionate person I know."

Sarah gave a look that forced Chuck to look in the mirror to make sure half of his face hadn't melted off. After a minute or two she still couldn't comprehend what he meant by that so Chuck started again, "I know you are doubting it right now, but give me a chance. If somebody were to describe how you go about your mission as throwing yourself completely into it, would they be wrong?" Sarah shook your head, "That in my mind is the essence of passion. The CIA and the douchebag tried their best to convince you that only missions and inanimate things, like a Porsche, were the only acceptable outlets for your passion, but they are so incomprehensibly wrong it is laughable. So I will say it again; you are the most passionate person I have ever met."

This time a shy smile crept onto Sarah's face as he made her want to believe it. The point that tipped it to her believing him was the mission just prior to meeting Chuck. While she was inclined to tell him that story she decided to hold off unless it became an urgent matter. It wasn't because she thought he couldn't handle it, but it was a burden she did not want him to have to deal with at this time. She merely nodded her head and said, "Thank you, Chuck."

Chuck instinctively flashed his megawatt smile, "You're welcome Sarah. What do you say to a movie night after work tonight? A quote just popped in my head and I think you might like it… sorry, I'm assuming you haven't seen it which…"

Sarah was still smiling, but managed to put in some faux exasperation to stop Chuck's rambling, "Chuck, why don't you share the quote and I will let you know."

Chuck nodded his head, "Well it may not be exact, but…" watching Sarah's eyes widen he blurted out, "You fulfilled the first rule of law enforcement: when your shift is over go home alive. Here endeth the lesson."

Sarah first tried to determine whether the accent was Irish or Scottish as Chuck obviously attempted to do the quote in character, but it simply did not register to her. She adopted a small pout as she shook her head. Chuck smiled, "Everybody thinks they can do Sean Connery, but…" Sarah did recognize that name and Chuck responded with a small smile, "That is one of the lesser quotes. Although a more famous one I'm sure you're bound to disagree with has him mocking somebody bringing a knife to a gun fight."

Sarah thought about that for a moment, tilted her head to each side as if contemplating it before shrugging her shoulders, "Well even with that thought, I am willing to give it a shot. You are off tomorrow because you're going to that conference the next day, right?"

Chuck nodded his head and led them both out of the bathroom, barely avoiding a haggardly looking brunette who latched onto Chuck, "I'm sorry I doubted you and that Sarah had to spoil your surprise… I was just worried you had fallen back into the Buy More death spiral." Ellie noticed Sarah, "I'm sorry I ruined our girl's night," She retracted from Chuck and moved to Sarah, "I should know you wouldn't let him fall back. Thank you."

A quick squeeze followed by the release left Sarah unsure of what to do, so Chuck stepped in, "Are you feeling ok?"

Ellie's response of a 'meh' look followed by a shrug of one shoulder didn't bolster anybody's confidence, "Oh, Devon should be coming in from his overnight shift and I wanted to make him something besides that shake."

"I already started coffee and I can make omelettes, I hope Chuck can handle toast." Both women found some mirth with Chuck's reaction to Sarah's slight. Ellie disappeared into the bathroom leaving the other two to head off into the kitchen.

 _ **A/N: Suffice to say an awful lot of dialogue in this chapter. I hope it wasn't too difficult to follow and the break was put in to separate the evening of Chuck and Jeff to the subsequent morning after. For those familiar with season two we do know what comes next. I think I was planning on avoiding this originally, but am choosing to tackle it head on now while setting the stage for a veer in direction. Added the last bit with Ellie to show Chuck is not alone in helping Sarah and while Ellie does not know certain details she can offer Sarah perspectives she would otherwise never contemplate. For those still reading; thanks. Please feel free to review; even if it is only a five word one where it is impossible to obtain anything constructive from it.**_


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: Thanks to all those that read, review, and follow; I will also attempt to not allow WORD to change my words. I do not own Chuck and for the 'Jill arc' there will be no fruit punch induced shower scene. I do not want to extend this portion of the story through multiple chapters, so hopefully I can get us quickly past Jill without too much devastation. This chapter took far too long to complete. I am sorry for that. I broke this chapter into segments utilizing both the 'line' and bolding the respective segments.**_

 **Chapter 9**

 **Post reuniting with That Girl** (Those so inclined can take a moment picturing Jordana Brewster parading around as Marlo Thomas)

Sarah waited until the transmission had completely ended before turning to Chuck, "Chuck, why did you lie to her?"

Chuck lifted his gaze off the ground; after the second admonition from Beckman Chuck had lowered his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets. Only the squeak of his Chuck Taylor's against the floor and the inevitable 'Yes Ma'am' he mumbled to Beckman at the end were the only traces he was physically there. "I didn't want to embarrass her," meekly came out of Chuck's mouth.

Sarah allowed that to percolate in her brain for a moment before calling Chuck on it, "I know you are selfless, Chuck, but I also know that's not the main reason."

Chuck stopped his fidgeting as he once again looked down, "Why do you want to know?" came out in a whine.

"First, knowing your motivations can help me fine tune what we can try to accomplish on this mission and how to shape it so all objectives are satisfied," Chuck noticed Sarah's shoulders drop slightly as she finished, "Second, and more importantly I know if you go in there conflicted; you will end up with your emotions leading the way turning it into a Three's Company type fiasco where nobody gets what they want and you end up with some pasta with marinara sauce dripping from your head into your lap. Lastly, this may be the only chance for you to get the answers you have been waiting six years for so, I don't want you to blow it."

Chuck looked up into her calm, accepting eyes as he tried to express the depth of his gratitude in his own. She nodded her acknowledgment as Chuck reached one hand behind his head and tried to smooth his hair down. He took a step towards her before hesitating and finally spoke, "I know it is important to find out what LaFleur is working on and I will do my best to get all the information I can, "he paused to sigh, "but…"

Chuck turned and began to trudge towards the steps; Sarah ran through numerous responses, but could not find the one that would boost his wavering self-confidence. Knowing she had to say something she called out just as he reached the top of the stairs, "Chuck!"

He turned and she immediately recognized his 'brave front' face; still not satisfied with her choices she nevertheless opened her mouth and blurted out, "Trust me Chuck; I won't allow you to look foolish." Sarah grimaced as she looked back up to Chuck.

Her eyes widened with surprise as he was grinning while looking down at her, "Sarah, of all the missions you will undertake; by far the most impossible will be to keep me from making a fool of myself." His self deprecating chuckle turned into a full, genuine laugh causing Sarah to grin as that sound was a balm, able to soothe any negative thoughts she had. The sudden stop and Chuck's puzzled face worried her for a second before it turned into a slight smirk, "Sarah, you referenced a television show…" The smirk turned back to his high beam smile, "You are amazing; I don't tell you that nearly enough." He paused while looking fondly at her, "Back here at five for final prep?"

Sarah nodded her head, waiting until Chuck turned back towards the exit before allowing the full effect of Chuck's laugh, smile, and words pour through. Her skipping within Castle was erased by a wistfully smiling interested third party watching a monitor while thumbing over a wedding invitation before unfolding the letter that accompanied it.

* * *

 **Pre-date jitters**

"Chuck, what happened to your suit?"

"I need you to remind me never to upset Ellie after thirty six straight hours at the hospital. Supposedly she slept six hours in the middle of it, but when I told her my plans for the evening her right eye started shaking then she tore the jacket and started screaming 'How could I do this to you?' I told her that you knew about it and encouraged it. Thankfully that stalled Hurricane Ellie for a moment while I told her how I 'ran' into Jill, my subsequent padding of my resume, and her asking me out to further catch up."

"Wait. She asked you out?" Sarah finished with a surprised tone to her voice.

"Yes… Is it so far out of the realm of possibility that a woman would ask me out?" Chuck added both defensively and a little hurt.

Sarah shook her head before whispering out "No," Castle remained quiet for a minute as both reflected on the turmoil their lives have been through within the past few weeks. "What did Ellie say after you explained everything?" Sarah reluctantly asked.

Chuck loudly sighed as he made his way to a table and sat on a chair before shaking his head and reached down to his leg, "Ellie said I should have kicked her in the shins."

Sarah giggled before frowning at Chuck's now obvious discomfort, "Ice pack and ibuprofen?" Chuck gratefully nodded, "Chuck, I'm sure Ellie didn't mean to…" Sarah quickly left to gather the supplies before finishing.

A minute later Sarah returned finding Chuck's head lying on his folded arms, staring up at her child-like, "You're right. If she realized what she had done I'd be at the hospital waiting on X-rays; if for no other reason than to prevent this evening from happening. Nevertheless, Ellie is usually right about these things… should I just cancel?"

Sarah gave a quick consideration about the back-up plan she was putting into place as there was a decent possibility that Roberts did not know exactly what her boss was doing or that she would even open up to Chuck about that. Although her asking him out flipped the dynamic a little bit. Most likely she was going to use this as an apology; allowing the possibility of well timed guilt expressions from Chuck to break her reserves and create opportunities to open up more easily. Of course if she only asked him out because of his professed wealth she would rebuff Chuck with the changes she had made… and that would state something about her as well. At this last part a feeling of uneasiness; despite her well deserved reputation of doing anything to complete a mission a growing part of her was hoping his ex was that shallow to turn her nerd down.

Forgetting that Chuck was looking at her expectantly, Sarah hastily croaked out, "No." She cleared her throat and began again, "After you left I rearranged a number of things for your date." At the last word Sarah felt a burn in her esophagus. "I told Beckman that the added pressure of pretending to be a mogul could prevent us from getting the information. I set you guys up with a table at that Italian place we went to a few weeks ago." Chuck nodded his recall of it, "The shirt doesn't appear damaged so… you are good to go; except you need to call Jill."

"Uhh… Why?"

"Calling her now and explaining the change of plans is a much better option than doing it while holding open the door to the Nerd Herder."

Chuck shyly nodded and felt a slight reprieve guessing that they would have provided him with some European sports car with some type of manual transmission he'd have no hope of mastering in the ten minutes to get to her hotel. "What if she refuses to go out with me?"

Sarah couldn't understand why that statement brought her instant joy, but she successfully fought that back, "Well that tells us something about the slut as well. Granted we can easily create a diversion in order to place some monitoring devices in her room and cloning her phone shouldn't be a difficult proposition." Sarah took a breath and Chuck recognized her facial expression that meant she processed new information and was formulating the new strategy, "I know it may not be easy to remember, but what was her reaction after the initial shock of seeing you again."

Chuck tried to fight through the now complete embarrassment about his reaction to recall Jill's. The furrowed brow and frown on Chuck's face told Sarah the answer before he took a deep breath and slowly shook his head 'no'. Sarah lightly grasped Chuck's shoulder and was relieved not to find a look of disappointment on her face.

"Chuck don't worry. I was just thinking of the best time to broach Bryce and… her… their… coupling." Sarah shook her head for a moment, "Actually you need to make the phone call to her and if I can listen in…" Sarah paused as Chuck contemplated for a moment before nodding his acceptance. "This way I can have a better idea when you can bring the issues up that you need addressed." At his perplexed look she continued, "We need to prep this out beforehand as I will be in the van, unless there's a security concern. A few of the Buy More workers go there occasionally, so I cannot risk being spotted as a waitress or hostess."

Chuck reflexively smiled at watching Sarah go through the plan; he always marveled at the way her mind worked. Sarah, in response, had a shy smile creep across her face. When she finished Chuck pulled out his phone and after Sarah placed a chip in the charge port she ushered him into an interrogation room for 'privacy' while he called his ex. While listening in, Sarah could not help but be charmed by his stammering, yet endearing confession. She was also trying to recall if she had ever heard honestly and objectively used in so many consecutive sentences. The main reason she separated herself from Chuck was she knew how difficult it was for him stating the lack of progress, to those without the acceptable clearance level; his life has had over the past six years.

Agent Walker's focus on Jill's responses was being usurped by the need for Sarah to wrap Chuck in a hug. Especially at the point where Sarah could tell Chuck believed what he was saying to her about the dashed hopes his life was filled with. The delay waiting for Jill's response was interminable; a full two minutes of silence was finally ended by Chuck stammering out, "Don't worry, I completely understand…"

"No, Chuck its fine and I also understand, but if you still want to go out… I missed you." Watching the final sentence bring a smile back to Chuck's face put Sarah in a quandary.

Sarah was already running the response over in her head trying to figure out the trace emotions in that statement as it wasn't quite right. While the two solidified the time to pick her up; Sarah had begun to replay it over the computer unable to find any of the emotions she would immediately ascribe to it: anger, surprise, guilt, but none of those appeared present from her speech patterns or tone. Chuck had left the room and was looking over Sarah's shoulder as she was replaying it on a loop and still not getting any answer.

Chuck cautiously placed a hand softly on her shoulder, "Sarah… What are you doing?"

Thankfully she was aware of Chuck's presence; otherwise his shin would not be the only part of his body sporting a bruise. "I'm just trying to get a read on her. Would you normally describe her as unemotional?"

Chuck took a moment, "Well, I remember being in her room when her parents called saying their family dog had died. I tried to wrap her in a hug, but she just looked at me funny. I had heard a pet dying was one of the more traumatic events in a person's life. I could only relate from my pet being sent to a farm… Yes, I know better now… Stupid Morgan… I just assumed that she didn't want to look vulnerable; we had only been going out for a year at the time." Sarah placed a calming hand on Chuck's shoulder to halt the rambling.

Sarah asked a few more questions and using the information sketched out the outline of how Chuck's conversation should go: initially going heavy on her career through dinner to make the topic more comfortable later while interspersing inquiries about her family to keep it from getting too obvious, and avoiding Bryce until at least dessert. Sarah stressed to Chuck he needed to try and hold back his emotions at first. She would send the waiter in with the check that would also state whether to continue with his 'control' or to stomp out and leave her at the restaurant depending on how she was reacting to the guilt trip. Sarah waited for Chuck to acknowledge at least his tacit approval and ability to do that if need be. He eventually relented as Sarah told him the stomping out would only occur if Jill was unable to take any responsibility for her actions. That and the fact that Sarah had commandeered a cab to take her back to her hotel eased Chuck's mind about abandoning her.

After replacing one of his buttons with a camera and a quick stop in the bathroom, they spent the final thirty minutes talking about nothing in particular, but it was enough that both exited Castle with huge smiles on their faces. Something neither would have the next time they respectively went into Castle.

* * *

 **Date of Doom**

The only word that came to Sarah's mind was 'clusterfuck'. As soon as that skank opened her door the plan unraveled faster than Carina peeling off her clothing in the Washington Capitals' locker room; a surprising number of their Stanley Cup Playoff failures coincided with Carina being sent away on a mission. Nevertheless the purportedly unemotional scientist was now a complete emotional mess. So much so that Chuck being the gentleman that he was, after the first unsuccessful attempt at getting her to leave the room eventually agreed on having their dinner in her room.

Jill, at first, was inconsolable and clingy until Chuck had agreed to the change of plans then she was apologetic, but it soon became clear she was dominating the conversation. Anytime Chuck had a moment to divert back to the plan it was usurped by another inane tale from the hussy. Once it finally seemed she had run out of material; seriously, she droned on for fifteen minutes relating the history of a bookmarker Chuck had supposedly given her, ending with her vowing to go through all of her books to locate it once again; their dinner had arrived. Dinner was somewhat quiet with Chuck being shell-shocked from the barrage; however when Jill wasn't making a quick comment on 'How nice it was to be together again' or 'How cozy this was' she was initiating contact with Chuck.

For the majority of the tortuous two and a half hours he was in the succubus's room Sarah was forced to listen in and not to be able to do anything about it. After calling in the 'abort' to the agents at the restaurant a pair came to the hotel to watch the rear in case there were anymore unexpected surprises this evening. The first half hour Sarah kept her mind occupied by coming up with three distinct ways of springing Chuck from the viper's den; by far her favorite was scaling the outer wall of the hotel and taking her out with a single shot from her balcony. Sarah adapted that to tranquing the bitch as one of her 'mind simulations' ended with blood splatter on Chuck. The look of disappointment, fear and disgust of her made Sarah realize she would be completely lost if Chuck ever looked at her like that. She swallowed back the emotion of the moment and did her best to listen in as a professional.

* * *

 **Post-Mortem**

Sarah attempted to blink away the splitting headache she picked up halfway through the date. It intensified when that trollop kissed Chuck. When he kissed her back Sarah became livid. The resulting conversation between the two rendered her senses incapable of functioning for a minute. It relieved itself slightly when Chuck shocked the two of them by immediately declining Jill's whimpers for Chuck to stay the night.

The personality shift to seductress for Jill wasn't subtle and soon Chuck exited her room. He only remembered to release the breath he was holding once the elevator reached the lobby. Stepping outside into a muggy evening did not provide Chuck with the respite he felt a cool breeze would allow. Looking at the parking lot and seeing he had to walk past the surveillance van to get to the Herder did not help to bring breathing back to an automatic response. The growl from Sarah to, "Go home, Chuck. We'll talk tomorrow." Completely intimidated the self-proclaimed 'King of the Nerds' until he heard the soft sniffle that wrenched his heart.

Completely caught up in the daze of the evening's events, Chuck was barely able to make it back to the apartment in one piece. Having everything churning in his head by the time he parked the car he had no idea what the true events were. He only knew that he screwed up royally and that he was supposed to meet Jill at the diner across the street from her hotel at 8:30. After opening the door and seeing Ellie and Awesome snuggling on the couch he sighed. Ellie turned towards the door with a scowl while Devon, unaware of Chuck's plans looked at Ellie questioningly with a raised eyebrow.

Chuck shocked all three by raising his hands and snarled, "Ell, you can kick my other leg tomorrow, just please leave me alone. I'm going to sleep. Good night."

It took a moment for Ellie to recover, but her reaction to ignore what Chuck had just said and rush to find out what happened was halted by a cautious Devon who calmly reminded her of her brother's wishes. The two hugged briefly and after separating for a millisecond found themselves back in each other's arms.

Sarah had her forehead in her left palm when she heard Chuck enter the elevator and after dismissing him she began chastising herself in not paying more attention to the surroundings. If somebody had tried to take Chuck she would have had no idea where they went and she was right there. She took a deep breath and focused her anger while securing the equipment and tailing Chuck.

After making sure he made it to the apartment she left to go to Castle trying to figure out how she was going to frame the report. Before beginning the transmission she finally decided to play to Beckman's vanity and ask for her help in analyzing the tape. Not only did she need somebody with a non-biased perspective; this could easily be seen as an olive branch to smooth the obvious tension in their chain of command and allow Beckman to earn back some respect.

Just like everything else this evening Sarah's plans seemingly fell apart as Casey answered the transmission. He surprised her by starting with asking if Chuck was there as he had something to say to him. Sarah could tell he was doing his best to avoid making any stupid remarks as the details of the evening poured forth. When Sarah had finished, Casey took a deep breath and said he would forward it to Beckman and that Montgomery would probably take a listen as well because her reaction did not match anything that her background information and profile would suggest. When Casey asked if it would help if he headed back Sarah honestly responded she did not think so, but left open the possibility in case things did not turn around.

* * *

 **The Morning After**

Chuck woke up in the clothes he had gone out in the previous evening. In a fit of disgust he quickly tore them off before carefully reaching down and plucking off the button-camera. He chuckled mirthlessly as he set it on the counter before speaking into it, "I hope you stopped recording on this. Regardless, I know I made you both angry and sad last night and I hope you know that I would never want to be responsible for making you feel either of those things, let alone both. Since I seem to be doing a lot of hoping; I also hope you'll allow me to help rectify this." Chuck sighed as he gathered up his work clothes before heading to the bathroom. Almost simultaneously a smiling blonde spy closed her laptop and headed to her bathroom.

Chuck went back into his bedroom to grab his phone and noticed his computer screen was on. He could have sworn he turned it off before encountering Ellie yesterday, but coming closer he could see there was a message written on it. He closed his eyes and shook his head while biting his lower lip. A finger quickly crossed the keyboard to hit the 'print screen' button. He stared at the result for a minute before crumbling it and stuffing it into his pocket. Another person watching this, cursed himself before he turned off the monitor and went to gather some items.

Chuck rushed out of the apartment and avoided speaking or even seeing the Doctors. As he made it to the Nerd Herder he fished the paper out of his pocket and read it again, 'Charles, you cannot trust Jill. Trust Sarah.' The dots at the bottom of the page captured his attention, but he was unsure whether it was excess ink or something else. Adding this 'letter' to the confusion of everything else left him now frustrated as he got in the car and headed for the diner.

When Chuck walked in at 8:25 he figured to have at least ten to fifteen minutes to try and gather his thoughts as Jill was consistently late. A pained smile was the result of finding Jill staring at him in a complete teeth baring grin. He swallowed loudly as he wanted to kick himself as he should have called Sarah before walking in. He took a step before pulling out his phone and sending a text to Sarah. It said 'Morning went meet Jill will try C U B4 shift worst case lunch'. He was shocked and couldn't hold back the chuckle when an emoticon with its tongue sticking out was the answer.

As Chuck got to the table and greeted Jill her predatory smile had cooled considerably as she asked, "Who texted you?"

"It was just Morgan reminding me my shift starts at 10 and not noon."

"Does he know about us?"

Chuck started gasping, but was soon handed a glass of water. He polished it off quickly to the amusement of Jill and took a deep breath. Before he was able to blurt out his response a familiar voice spoke with a hint of a Texas drawl, "I suppose you'll want another glass of water, but is there anything else I can getcha for now."

Chuck held back his grin knowing he had to act nonchalant and fearing the possible repercussions of blowing this assignment, especially as Sarah seems playful. He took another quick breath before looking up into her deep blue eyes; one of which chose that moment to fluster him with a wink. He quickly recovered with, "Yes, another glass of water would be nice. Do you carry chocolate croissants?" was returned with a raised eyebrow and a terse shake of her head.

Chuck took a quick look at Jill, who still appeared amused at the antics before her, as he turned to continuing his banter with the waitress he saw a noticeable frown appear on Jill's face so he chose to cut it short, "Ok, well I think we can order," took both females by surprise, "I'll have an order of French Toast with a side of bacon and a large milk and the lady will have an egg white omelette with tomato, a slice of toast, and grapefruit juice if you have it." Chuck swallowed as Jill was now beaming and Sarah while still maintaining her smile sent a different message with her eyes.

Sarah wrote everything down and gave a quick look to Jill that this was her order and at Jill's nod Sarah spoke again, "We do have grapefruit juice, I'll get your order in right away; any coffee?" As both answered 'no', "Ok, I'll be back in a second with your drinks." Sarah gave a bright smile before sauntering off.

"She's reasonably attractive I guess," Jill stated with more than a hint of spite, "But to flirt with you like that…"

"She wasn't flirting, she was being attentive…"

"Chuck, it's ok. Besides it would probably be amusing to see you two attempt to communicate on a date. Come on, there are studies that link unusually happy morning people to a lack of intelligence. Her favorite movie is probably Pretty Woman."

Chuck's cough preceded the grapefruit and milk glasses being perfectly placed on the table by a few seconds, "Your order should be up in just a few minutes and I agree Pretty Woman is an excellent movie." The grapefruit Jill tried to swallow shot out through her nose and landed on Chuck's shirt. Sarah grabbed a napkin to blot the oncoming stain, but Chuck lightly grabbed her arm to stop.

"Don't worry about it; I can stop and change before heading to work. Besides I always enjoyed the scene when they were going to the opera."

Sarah gave a dreamy sigh before leaving the table causing Chuck to smile before looking across at a mortified Jill who took almost a minute after their orders arrived at the table before uttering, "I'm a bitch."

Chuck had just drenched his French Toast in maple syrup and placed the first bite in his mouth and was chewing when Jill spoke. Chuck continued chewing while making some obscure hand gestures and offering a contemplative look on his face before swallowing. "I would counter that you are a snob, which surprises me since I remember somebody at this table washing dishes at her dorm's cafeteria first semester freshman year before her scholarship kicked in."

"Should I apologize to her? Do you think she heard what I said?"

Chuck touched her hand, "I don't know what she heard, but I would think the appropriate thing to do would be to leave a generous tip."

Jill gave a sweet smile and nodded as they finished their meal. She grabbed the check insisting she had a per diem that would just go to waste, but if Chuck was insistent upon paying for a meal she would be happy to oblige him with dinner tonight. While Chuck's approval did not have as much enthusiasm as she hoped she did manage to thwart his embarrassment of PDA by planting a substantial kiss on him before he blushed and staggered out of the diner.

After watching the door close behind Chuck she took out her phone, "I may owe you that Napoleon Brandy. While it may not happen tonight before the conference is over I'll have pulled off a Seduction Impossible and gotten the info." After hanging up and bellowing out a Hillary Clintonesque cackle Jill left the table calling out that the waitress can keep the change.

Sarah paused as she looked at the bill, picking up the cash and the microphone on the napkin holder. It took her no time to determine she needed to be brought in for questioning and perhaps something a little more personal in lieu of the 3 cent tip.

Making her way to the van Sarah made sure Jill went back to her hotel and seeing that her room was now bugged ascertained the subject was in the shower grabbing a bag she proceeded to follow through on a plan she formulated the night before. Granted scaling a building in a white ninja garb in the daylight may have been overkill, but she did it even quicker than her best case estimate and completely surprised her subject who was unable to make a sound before getting a double hit from the tranquilizer gun.

'At least she put some clothes on,' went through Sarah's mind as she placed her dead weight behind some bushes as she went to get the van. After loading her, pulling away and lifting the loop on the designated security cameras a small trace of doubt began to creep in wondering if she could have misinterpreted this. She quickly pushed it down as her gut was screaming that Jill Roberts was up to no good.

Sarah encountered no difficulties dragging Jill down to Castle, placing her in full restraints, and setting up the method used to wear her down mentally. After locating said method she set it to play on loop and delivered the stimulant to counteract the tranquilizer. Sarah locked the room and changed back into her white outfit in the very, very slim chance she had been mistaken. Sarah took a deep breath before entering the room once again muting the action just before Richard Gere was to mutilate that Porsche's transmission. Jill seemed to relax once the sound was off and did her best to try to look through the costume to identify her abductor.

After a few seconds she relented and announced, "Well Agent Walker, I was waiting to see how the Ice Queen was going to react to the woman that initially snared her boyfriend."

 _ **A/N: I know there is no possible way the wait was worth it, this was the third rewrite of this chapter and while there is always room for improvement; I could not contemplate attempting a fourth try. I really wanted to take care of Jill in one chapter, but I did not want to keep you guys in limbo any longer and she is one manipulative blanket-blank.**_


	10. Chapter 10

_**A/N: Seeing the passion in some of the reviews is quite satisfying because I interpret it as them really being involved with the story and that is the best thing a writer can hope for. I wrote the previous line as soon as I finished the last chapter and while the sentiment is still true I can understand some grumbles from the delay between chapters. I'm not sure who is following this anymore, but this is the longest chapter of the story and while it simply cannot be worth the wait I hope you enjoy it.**_

 **Chapter 10**

" _Well Agent Walker, I was waiting to see how the Ice Queen was going to react to the woman that initially snared her boyfriend."_

Sarah was dumbfounded and a little scared by the declaration. However her training kicked in immediately and forced her body to subtly scoot towards her prisoner in a non-threatening way; psychologically showing an interest for the person speaking to continue. She was also thankful on not changing her outfit as she was certain her face did not fully hold back her surprise from the statement. In the midst of her physical reaction Sarah realized the Fulcrum Agent was in fact referring to the Bryce-hole and not the person whose heart this tart had shattered six years ago.

Jill was also slightly taken aback as she expected a more pronounced reaction from the famed 'Wild Card'. She took a small breath before trying to probe again, "I mean we could always compare notes; woman to woman. From our intel Larkin is the only person you've allowed to sully your reputation. I've even seen a few reports; apparently neither man nor woman is able to resist your charms before they even get to second base. I really wish I could say the same, but I am not ashamed for anything I've had to do for the cause. Both of us do have one other thing in common: we've never failed on a solo mission. Granted with this long awaited confrontation one of us will have a blemish on their record unless…"

Sarah reluctantly gave some credit to the person opposite her. Until her performance last night she would have never considered the possibility of Jill Roberts as a spy. Last night with jealousy clouding her judgment she needed Beckman and Montgomery's non-biased insights; otherwise she might not have found out before it was too late. This development also brought a lot of other questions to light including wondering how Chuck's gaffe at their dinner last night is going to play out. Two distinct noises almost simultaneously erupted from Sarah's watch causing her to rise from her chair. Sarah took a quick glance to confirm what she already knew: Chuck was on his way down and a communication would be coming in from Beckman in around five minutes. Looking over at her prisoner Sarah calmly shrugged her shoulders and pointed to her watch explaining their time was up. Jill uttered a resigned grunt, believing she had made some headway. After securing the room and stepping out Sarah only managed to take her hood off before Chuck traipsed in.

Sarah couldn't help but spot the lopsided grin that she recently allowed her brain to finally admit was adorable. His visage quickly changed to the look of admiration that accompanied his initial viewing of whatever outfit she deigned to wear. The other difference was that his body language screamed 'relaxed'. Sarah ran through her memory trying to recall the last time Chuck appeared so and came up with the night that was the turning point of their relationship. Her smile dulled considerably after assuming what brought about this change was the reemergence of the women who now occupied Interrogation Room 1.

Going down the stairs to Castle Chuck felt a sense of clarity that he hadn't had since that horrific day at Stanford; returning with his last portion of hope to have it be utterly squashed. That day he desperately clung to the belief that Jill would bring him out of the swoon he found himself falling in, but after hitting the first ping pong ball against her window he never would have guessed it needed to be over five years later for her to completely reconcile his festering swamp of self doubt. At first being with Jill again felt like the pieces of his life were starting to fit together, but something in the back of his mind was screaming at him that this was not right.

After a decent night's sleep, waking up, and having Sarah's state of mind on the forefront rather than Jill's was the first step in bringing him back to where and whom he wanted to belong. It was reinforced with the impromptu banter at the diner. Whatever there had been between he and Jill was barely a scintilla of what he felt for Sarah. He couldn't help but smile as Sarah was clad in a ninja style outfit which coincided with his perfect image of 'Spy Sarah'; dangerous and stealthy. 'Regular Sarah' was typified with that pastel blue sweater and jeans combo… and he needed to put those thoughts out of his mind quickly as he noticed Sarah's smile begin to fade.

Chuck rushed up to her and whispered not knowing if there were any other agents present, "Sarah, I'm not sure that ninja outfits were especially designed to stun their opponents by just looking at them, but…"

The blush had already started as she reluctantly squeaked out, "Chuck… Thank you, but there is something urgent I have to tell you about Jill."

Chuck chirped, "Actually, I do have something to ask you regarding her as well. Do you mind if I go first, because I'd like to take care of this as soon as possible."

Sarah's mouth scrunched together as she was unable to read Chuck, but from a lifetime of disappointment her brain was scrambling to rebuild the walls it had artfully sculpted throughout her life. She was so saddeningly entranced with visualizing the walls she missed what Chuck's question was. She felt a flash of comforting heat on her cheek and another hand cup her chin to bring it up. Her head reflexively tilted towards the hand on her cheek and while she held back the sigh she needed to bite down on her lower lip to do so which could easily be read as the same physiological effect. Reluctantly she opened her eyes knowing Beckman and Co. were at most a minute away from signing on. Chuck surprised her as the only emotion on his face was concern.

"I know it sounded trite and I never want to disappoint you; nor will I ever conclude I understand women. However, I never thought telling Jill I never want to see her again via text was something that would create this type of reaction." Chuck softly said.

Sarah's eyes almost popped out of her head as she wrapped her arms around Chuck and mumbled something into Chuck's shoulder. Chuck shook his head as he realized this was what Ellie had to be referring to in the midst of her diatribe before he went out with Jill last night. He knew Sarah was emotionally vulnerable regarding her past, but he didn't think she would be affected more than he with this current mission. Granted Ellie did not know his date had been sanctioned by the government, but apparently his sister's insight was spot on as he again lifted Sarah's head to see she was fighting back tears.

"Sarah, Beckman should be on very soon. You might want to splash some water on your lovely face. I'll… uh, come up with something."

Sarah quickly regained her composure and nodded, quickly leaving to the nearest facility before turning and uttering in one breath, "I'm sorry Chuck, but you don't need to text her because Jill is a spy. I'll be back shortly and I don't want to hear anything out of your mouth about a spastic colon."

Chuck stood with his mouth hanging open as the three beeps signifying a live transmission echoed through the room. Beckman's throat clearing snapped Chuck out of the doldrums he was in as he turned and meekly uttered out, "Jill is a spy?"

The three recipients on the other side all leaned back with that response, each either unwilling or more likely knowing they were unable to offer the emotional support for the man in front of them. Luckily it only took a deep breath from Chuck and the reappearance of Sarah for him to speak again. "So does this mean no on the break up text or really go for it?"

The relief on the other side was palpable while Sarah fought a smile and shook her head, "You cannot text her Chuck because I have her phone and I don't foresee her getting it back anytime soon." She looked to the monitor, "Jill Roberts is currently in Interrogation Room 1. After Chuck left their breakfast she contacted a person marked 'Leader' on her phone. Her part of the conversation was sent to you, but I haven't heard anything from the analyst yet. During the call Roberts commented on a 'seduction impossible' and that she was going to get the 'info' soon. In my judgment, it was better to bring her in now, rather than give her time to set up some contingency plans."

The three people on the monitor each gave their contemplative look, but Beckman spoke before the faces on the other two changed. "I agree Agent Walker. I hope the analysis of last night from myself and Agent Montgomery helped and have you had a chance to question our latest guest?"

Sarah took a quick glance to Chuck to make sure he wasn't mentally blocking himself off, but it appeared he was fully invested in the conversation, although his guilty expression started to appear. "Yes your analysis was especially helpful, without it I would have been content to merely parabolic the breakfast. Instead by being there and pushing a few buttons we got Roberts to make a mistake." She offered a quick, but noticeable glance and smile Chuck's way as she said that. "I did not get a chance to ask any questions or reveal my face to her. Although she did surmise that I was Agent Walker and after trying to catch me off guard by saying she had my boyfriend first." Both Casey and Roan swallowed and stared at Chuck while shocked at the nonchalance Sarah uttered that statement with.

Chuck felt the eyes upon him although he was looking downward, "I'm sure Jill meant Larkin," came out with a bitter edge none of the other people had ever heard Chuck use before.

From the resulting silence he looked up to see if he made a bigger ass of himself than if he had just remained silent. His brain suffered a temporary amnesia when he felt a slightly cool sensation on his palm and a subsequent squeeze of his fingers brought his gaze down to see Sarah's fingers intertwined with his. The mega-watt smile he supplied was soon returned with hers as the world completely disappeared for the two. Casey's reaction was initially a sly smirk initially thinking finally the two are on the same wavelength, but it was turned upside down as he realized if his reveal was good enough to reclaim his spot on the team would they force PDA such as this or even worse constantly upon him as payback.

Beckman's instant response was attempting to clear her throat in a futile attempt to get this conference back on track, but a firm hand on her shoulder with a stern shake of Roan's head puzzled the General. After a minute of silence Roan lifted the hand off her shoulder and held it up in a surrendering gesture. The resulting grunt from the General brought everybody back from wherever their thoughts had taken them.

"I'm sorry General. After that statement she made an ambiguous offer starting with neither of us noted for having never failed a mission; making this a potential first for one of us, but it didn't have to necessarily be that way. That was when the initial signal that our briefing was going to happen occurred and that is when I left her… watching Pretty Woman."

Chuck couldn't stop the laugh, especially after Casey quipped about having to check the Geneva Convention codes. Sarah felt a little unsure as she always did when everybody in a room was laughing at what she said until she felt the blistering warmth squeeze their still connected hands. This time they merely exchanged a shy glance to one another as Roan uttered a contented sigh and Beckman rolled her eyes; although she was starting to resign herself that this was something she needed to get used to as this was easily the best team 'in the game' currently and she was racking her brain to find a better one, in terms of results, in the past.

"I would suggest Agent Walker that you reveal your identity to her when you go in after we've finished here. There is some chatter stating something is happening on the West Coast today. So a direct, instead of covert approach should be the way to go. Do whatever you need to get the info. Do you think she suspects the true whereabouts of the Intersect?" Beckman inquired while leaning in and encompassing well over half the screen.

Answering the question first Sarah adamantly shook her head, "No, I don't think she has any idea about that. However I am sure she is going to try and leverage her knowledge to walk away scot free if it pans out. Are you saying I have the authority to follow up on that if her intel is good?"

"You can promise it as a last resort, but we will not be letting an important Fulcrum operative leaving the facility a free woman. We'll be expecting her along with the two of you on the jet headed to DC once you handle this situation." In an attempt to offer an olive branch Beckman chose to add something rather than her typical way to end; simply terminating the feed, "If you need additional resources, all available first response units are aware that something is in play for today."

Chuck raised his hand to catch her attention and Beckman contained her eye roll long enough for her to exasperatedly state, "You don't need to raise your hand Chuck. What is it?"

"Is it possible Jill is using herself as a Trojan horse? The Iliad was her favorite book… Sorry, it was just a thought. I'm sure since you all figured out she was a spy right away…" Chuck's voice drifted off and Sarah realized why Chuck had that look when she entered the communication room.

Roan also seemed to recognize what Chuck was going through as he leaned towards the camera to speak, "Charles, I am the expert on this subject, but it took me halfway through the second viewing for it to register on what I was really watching. Her performance last night was a seduction masterpiece, in theory. She blended three different strategies seamlessly when normally agents are loathed to even have to attempt to merge two. The fact that you were able to resist her when anybody else would have…" Roan drifted off knowing if he had to continue he had to tread very carefully with the Brigadier General well within striking range. Chuck's grateful grin and thankful nod allowed Roan to breathe a sigh of relief rather than continue.

Beckman chose to ignore the end of the last conversation as she was busy contemplating Chuck's concern and realized there was legitimate merit to it. She cleared her throat before she spoke, "Your concern about a Trojan Horse is a worthy one." Everybody else on both sides of the meeting gave a wide eyed look as it was rare for the General to offer up any semblance of praise after a mission was complete; it was almost unfathomable for her to offer it in the midst of one. "I do think Agent Walker move preempted Fulcrum's attempt. Roberts' maneuvers last night showed she wanted to regain your trust and not merely the 'seduction impossible'. Roberts' offer to Walker is most likely a ploy to stall and think of a way to save her mission. The chatter still supports there will be an event here in LA tonight and right now this keynote speech still seems to have the greatest likelihood. We are confident of the when and where, but we need the what to fully understand and that is the info we need from Jill Roberts. We should keep Chuck's concern in mind and not delegate the full arsenal unless we are certain of all components."

By any means necessary was left unsaid this last time, but prominently on the minds of Chuck and Sarah as well as Casey's; especially given the time frame. Chuck looked to Sarah and attempted a wordless conversation that instead left Sarah scrunching her face in confusion. Chuck shook his head and looked up to the screen, "Does this mean I should be in the interrogation room as well? With Sarah showing her face to Jill that probably fills in the pieces she hadn't put together yet."

Beckman shook her head, "No, I want to preserve anybody else's knowledge of the amount of your involvement as long as possible, just in case. This isn't a scolding for the hiccup you had last night saying you 'just had a meeting with Bryce that allowed you to vent out your frustrations with him'. From my viewing of the tape I have a feeling that you might come up in the negotiations. When Walker shows her face I want those jealous thoughts to enter her mind, throwing her for another loop and it will be easier if you are not in the room. This should allow her imagination to run unfettered regarding the level of your involvements both here and with Agent Walker." The diminutive General offered up her 'not to be trifled with' glare and felt it was successful given the silence and subsequent gulps from the four other people with access to the conversation.

Chuck's head initially instinctively leaned down to look at his shoes. However, the lack of her usual scolding tone and the quick look he gave to her face gave pause to his movement. He quirked an eyebrow and his lips curled up slightly despite the huge gaffe he had committed; apparently the General realized she didn't need to bring him to the front of the class and whack his hands with a ruler. He realized he needed to offer her something in return and contritely looked up to the screen and offered an earnest, "I'm sorry General and it won't happen again."

Beckman's mouth almost flashed a small smile, but held stoically as she nodded to Chuck and turned back to Sarah, "Agent Walker my people have assured me they have fixed the bug that has been intermittingly causing problems with transmitting from that room, so we can monitor your progress with Roberts back here in DC in real time. Use the Alpha code words if you need something immediately from us. Again we need to handle this quickly, but completely, and once you have accomplished this there will be a jet on the tarmac waiting to bring you here." The transmission clicked off before any response could be offered, but both had grown accustomed to this.

Sarah took a deep breath and began to turn as she realized they were still holding hands. She allowed herself another moment to enjoy it before reluctantly releasing his hand from hers. She brought that hand up and gracefully ran it down the side of Chuck's face and noting his content she playfully bopped the tip of his nose with her index finger. That caused a faux pout before getting the easy laugh she needed to hear. Both appeared to be stuck to the spot as silence and awkwardness began to creep back in as Chuck was waiting for Sarah to tell him if he should stay and observe or just go to the Buy More and meet up for lunch while Sarah was waiting for any type of signal from Chuck in which he felt more comfortable doing.

Finally, after the Agent Walker mask solidified back in place she chose to speak, "Chuck, I know your first instinct is to want to stay and watch and even though she appeared amenable before; she has had enough time to gauge her bearings and form a plan. I don't want it to come to it, but I may have to employ techniques that aren't exactly pleasant and do not involve Julia Roberts. I don't want you to feel guilty watching these things happen to somebody you once cared about." What she left unsaid was the main reason: she did not want Chuck to see her unleash the full brunt of her 'Enforcer' personality and risk him viewing her differently.

Chuck listened intently and slowly nodded his head before stopping and looking Sarah dead in the eye. "Thank you for your concern. However, if the negotiation appears to be headed to that direction, there are two things that could be helpful. First, Jill apparently knows your reputation and I'd doubt she'd put herself straight into your crosshairs with even an inkling of what you would put her through. Second, I'd ask if you think you are at that point, step outside and we can talk about it. Perhaps I can offer some advice or spotted a tell from her. Even though I may not really know her now, I'd like to think there is still some of that shy, gawky freshman left in her."

Sarah's eyes screamed from the adulation she held for the man in front of her and remained professional and nodded her head. She took another deep breath and began to focus; bringing Agent Walker back to the forefront. Chuck resisted the impulse to intertwine their fingers once again while walking to the room as he could tell she did not need the distraction. When they got to the room she merely tilted her head to the viewing room and allowed herself a quick smile to Chuck's wave as he closed the door. Taking another breath, she closed her eyes for a second, opened them and walked into the room.

After Agent Walker left the room the only focus point was the movie that was playing; Jill could only shudder in revulsion as she recalled the beginning from the many times it had been viewed by her sorority sisters. She steadfastly refused to give in to what was transpiring on the screen and instead began to conceive of a plan to complete her mission. She was already inside their secret base, now she just needed a way to escape, make sure the op is still in play, and transmit the location of the base to Leader.

Out of the corner of her eye Jill caught Richard Gere in a suit and for some reason her mind immediately replaced him with Chuck. Her attention was now totally transfixed on the movie as she watched Chuck spectacularly fail at handling a manual transmission and her feminist ideals didn't bat their theoretical eyes as she placed herself in Julia Roberts' role as the prostitute. Her mind had long ago coped with the predominant aspect of her assignments; which some would obtusely view as not too different from a street walker. These people could never understand the power she held by exuding her complete control during every single one of these encounters. She eagerly watched as Julia/Jill rescues both the car and she assumes eventually Richard/Chuck by driving them to his swanky hotel. Watching the movie start to play out her mind was brought back to five or possibly six years ago in what she had figured was the last time she would ever see Chuck Bartowski again as he was walking away from the sorority house with his hands in his pockets and head down in complete dejection. Her roommate/sorority sister/fellow Fulcrum operative was also witnessing this, but did not attempt to hold back her glee at watching the sullen figure slowly walking away. She was shocked off that expression as Jill in a fit of rage picked her up and quickly brought her into their room and locked the door.

"Why did you do that to him? You broke him." Jill thundered out initially, but ended with little more than a whimper.

With what little emotion her roommate still had she gently grasped Jill's slightly shaking shoulders, "That was the only way to make sure he stayed away. Yes it was cruel, but he is your weakness. He makes you soft and right now we cannot afford any distractions. You've worked so hard; to throw everything away now doesn't make sense." She stopped and looked Jill in the eyes, "I'll tell the sisters you aren't up for the party tonight. Since just about everybody saw the display they'll understand… ice cream or liquor or both?"

Jill remembered becoming enveloped by a numbing feeling that has never really gone away and shrugged, but as the thought of chocolate chip mint ice cream easily drew her back to the person who offered her a bite from his cone on their first date no longer offered her any comfort. She quickly mumbled out, "Liquor". An outside perspective would easily claim that this was the moment where Jill Roberts lost a large portion if not nearly all the humanity she had once possessed.

It just so happened that Jill's reminiscing was disturbed right at this moment by a hand pounding the table. Jill immediately jerked up and tensed as she felt the remnants of a tear on her cheek. Reverting back to her training she refused to brush it off and intently stared into the eyes of… the waitress that served her and Chuck this morning. Jill's eyes blew wide open as she tried to reconcile these new circumstances, but her mind was scattered in too many directions to focus on anything. So she began to attempt to compartmentalize and concentrate on prolonging this conversation for as long as possible to give her time to conjure up any plan that first got her out of this room. She was surprised that Agent Walker hadn't used this showing of emotion to jibe her. A glance into her eyes showed more than a hint of amusement and she realized that the Enforcer was going to save this show of weakness when it would benefit her the most and the hollow feeling in her gut grew just a little more.

When Sarah walked into the room and saw Jill's expression she chose not to interrupt and closely study her to see if she was acting or if she was currently lost in her mind. It also offered Sarah the chance to wonder if Roberts was solely a seductress and what field mission experience she had. She knew that it was far better to over value her experience and intelligence and get this done as quickly as possible because even though Jill was giving absolutely no clue that she was acting, her performance the previous night made Sarah wary.

First, the attempt of a throat clearing was futile in bringing Roberts back to the here and now. Sarah followed up thirty seconds later by simply slamming her palm against the metal table. The discombobulated look and tear evident on Roberts' face could not be faked and Sarah allowed herself a small smirk as she began to gather information. After initially confirming that the event was going to happen tonight and was at the keynote speech Jill had recovered enough to ebb the flow of information.

It was apparent that Jill was flustered by the events of the day and that was exacerbated by having confirmed certain things with little resistance. Sarah shifted gears off the blitz attack when she sensed the resistance start to build in Roberts, going back to reconfirm things she had already stated because one of the major keys in interrogation is once you get the 'perp' to start talking once they shut up it can be damned difficult to get them started up again. She still had that emotional moment chip to play, but Sarah was convinced it involved Chuck and she wanted to keep from hearing those thoughts at almost any cost.

While not an expert by any means, Chuck liked to pay attention to Sarah when she was interrogating a suspect. Who was he kidding he liked to pay attention to Sarah when she was wiping off the counter of whatever food supplier the CIA chose to house at the surface of this spot. He was glad Beckman nixed the idea of him going into the room as seeing Jill's face did conjure up a memory: the night when Jill had been told by her father they didn't have the money for her to continue at Stanford. Chuck's mind went through their history once more with the knowledge that her Uncle Harry's generosity was most likely a colloquialism for Fulcrum. It did match the, at first, subtle shift from the girl that wanted to provide free vaccinations for every child on Earth, to whatever she was now… someone on the verge to unleash some mutated virus that only she and LaFleur had the formula for the cure.

Why? Was the question Chuck couldn't stop thinking about. Assassination, there were no people on the list of invitees that caused a ping from the computer, but that doesn't rule out Fulcrum knows something they don't. Killing a room full of people just for one would sadly seem to be an effective way of forcing the good guys in utilizing resources needing to check out any motives for the collective as well as every individual. Ransom for the antidote; perhaps badguyery is affected by the sluggish economy, it could also explain why LaFleur was taken out. Tying up a loose end and not having somebody assumedly untrained in handling interrogations spilling the beans before Fulcrum was ready. The third option that came to Chuck was the one that unsettled him the most, but he couldn't place a rationale for it. Fulcrum was ready to go public and somehow whatever rules were in place between the two entities are now out the window.

While Chuck was ruminating on the potential reasons behind the attack; in the interrogation room Jill had collected herself back to the point where she was negotiating for the information she was willing to part with.

"For what I'd be giving you; complete immunity, Witsec level 2 protection, five million dollars, Chuck, a small, but well fortified villa in Paris… with a view of the Eifel Tower..." Jill stopped as she finally noticed any semblance of a reaction from Agent Walker. She tried to keep the grin from appearing on her face, but since this was the first glimpse of any potential inroad it was futile to hide it. "Well it seems one of my demands you have a problem with. I mean the immunity and protection are par for the course, and while the money and villa may rile some fiduciary responsibility I have the strangest feeling your only concern is with a simple Buy More employee." Jill's smile grew throughout her declaration which was reflected in her voice and by the end there was little doubt she was convinced there was no doubt if given a choice Chuck would choose her every time.

Her counterpart across the table began to breathe heavier and Jill decided to start her plan: get Walker ticked off enough so she reacts physically and her superiors replace her with somebody she can manipulate into giving her a bathroom break. This would allow her to peruse at least a part of the station and time with her hands free. Jill knew the plan was far from grandiose, but Walker was at least as good as her reputation. The flirtation and innuendo Jill added to her offer did not even register to the blonde. For a nanosecond Jill contemplated whether the disappointment she felt was from the rebuff from the spy or the opportunity lost. Even at the diner she tried to play off how attractive she was and the easy way she and Chuck had bantered and this was before having an idea who she actually was, but in just a single word Agent Walker was stunning. A brief vision of a small bowl of assorted fruit, another with ice cubes, and a silk sheeted bed to test her reported stamina caused her salivary glands to kick up their production. This brought Jill back to reality and placed her plan of action in the 'must go now' mode.

There was a hint of anger on the blonde agent's face, but it was mixed with other emotions so Jill could not get a proper read. However she could see the Agent focus as some saliva escaped her mouth; as the agent's anger seemed to grow with this Jill chose the route to stoke the flame, "Sorry, I was just focusing on Chuck and lost myself for a second. You would never think it by looking at him, but if you think he knows how to work a computer you should see how he worked my body," Walker sighed and could not hold Jill's eyes which gave the Fulcrum operative more information and she moved in for the kill beginning with a chilling cackle, "Looks like I struck a nerve… hold on you've been here for over a year and you haven't been able to bed the man you so obviously desire. I mean in just one night I pretty much had him debating whether it would be room service or that diner for breakfast. I just felt it was better to slow play him a little. My god that must be the reason why you've never gone all the way on a mission; it is a shame a sexless creature would be given such a marvelous body to work with. I guess you need an instruction manual on how to work your body." Jill became lost in the mirth of putting down the Agent in front of her and only caught a glimpse of the now darkened blue eyes and snarl as the back of her head was grabbed. As Jill saw the table come closer she remembered one last piece of paper in Walker's file which came from an interview with her former handler: Kieran Ryker; if you piss her off, do it completely so she kills you straight away. Otherwise, it's more likely she'll cut off your tongue after tiring of the pleas to just go ahead and get it over with. His offer to join Fulcrum was rejected as it was clear he wanted to join solely to train a group to capture Walker and lead him to his purported retirement plan that she absconded Europe with. There was no time to analyze that thought as Jill heard what sounded like a thud and before her nerves were able to transmit pain there was nothing.

Sarah looked down in shock as she released the bitch's head from her hand and stared at it for a second. She took one breath, followed by another, but it didn't calm her. Her mind was racing on what to do after she checked to make sure Roberts wasn't dead; she was positive Beckman saw it and would be contacting her shortly that Casey was on his way back and although there was a deal in place, if they didn't think she was at her top capability both of their lives were at risk. The bile rose in her throat at that thought, but another breath gave her the beginning of the relaxing feeling she was yearning for. A knock on the window also reminded her there was a closer witness, and she was caught in a paradox: go to the one person whose understanding was all-important. However, if he rejected her she was certain she would never recover. She turned to the window and tried to offer a look that she was in complete control throughout, but the conjecture from that harpy rang far too true. Although leaning on another person led to disappointment had been figuratively beaten into her practically from birth, Sarah conceded to herself she couldn't do it alone any longer and took another two breaths before finally walking to the door and punching in the code to open it.

As soon as Chuck heard his name uttered by Jill his concentration returned to the spectacle before him. It was painfully obvious that the atmosphere in the room had changed and Jill was now somehow using him to gain the upper hand. Guilt filled him as he watched the girl who at one point he would swear was the only one who could truly hold his heart deride and ridicule the person he wanted to have at that position. Some anger drifted in as he thought about the words Jill unknowingly used to create the outburst from his ninja. Both emotions stayed as he watched her seemingly doubt herself in the aftermath and shakily make her way out of the room.

The miniscule whoosh of the door opening echoed throughout Castle as Sarah walked out. Her focus was completely on the door to the observation room waiting for it to open and then gauge the reaction from Chuck. She was silently praying that Chuck would understand in the way he surprisingly did better than anybody else, that in just leaving the room and not continue running was a big step for her and she hoped that he recognized this. After a few seconds she sighed and blinked her eyes. Somehow during that blink she was figuratively, and almost literally, knocked over by a ball of heat that encompassed her body. The instantaneous relaxation of her body both pleased and surprised her.

Chuck watched her leave and suddenly look over to the door he was in and stopped. He gulped as he could tell for one of the few times Sarah truly needed something from him and he would be damned if he would get it wrong. A few seconds passed by as he ran different scenarios in his head. He stopped as he noticed the forlorn look on Sarah's face and quickly raced out and chose to limit the talk and go with an Ellie option: hug until one of the participants tires of it. Chuck was pleased at Sarah's acceptance and both were content to stay there as long as possible. The beeping pattern from both of their watches let them know there was a finite end to their connection. A minute passed and neither had moved yet; Chuck's shoulders drooped as he resigned himself to letting Sarah go. Just before he did he whispered, "I'm sorry," into her ear.

Sarah quickly separated and stared at him with an inquisitive look trying to determine what he meant by that. Unable to come up with anything conclusive, she chose to ask rather than just assume, "What do you have to be sorry about?"

"Jill took advantage of you because of me…" Chuck stopped as Sarah's face contorted to a dangerous one.

"You think I'm weak!" Sarah distanced herself, gave a quick huff, before going back to the communication room.

Chuck was left dumbstruck and kicking himself wondering why he had to open his mouth in the first place as he slowly dragged himself into the room choosing to sit at the table instead of standing by Sarah's side.

Sarah was waiting and regretting for both the communiqué to begin and for Chuck to appear; mostly hoping the latter would happen soon so she could apologize. Despite the fact that she knew she was weak; Chuck was the last person in the world that she thought would call her on it. The fact he went to sit at the table spoke volumes to her and she silently cursed at herself; knowing there probably wasn't enough time, understanding her luck or lack thereof, to allow her to go to him. She instead turned and offered her most sincere and penitent look. Thankfully he chose to look up just before the monitor went live and nodded his head while throwing back a half megawatt smile. Sarah considered it was far more than she deserved and reflexively smiled back; only turning and putting her professional mask back on as Beckman announced her presence.

This meeting went surprisingly smoother and quicker than their one prior to the interrogation. The group was quickly in agreement that Jill's actions were to get Sarah kicked out of the room, and honestly, if there was another agent qualified to handle the interrogation because of the importance of the intel there would have been an argument to do just that. The only disagreement in their plan laid with how Chuck was to breakup with Jill. Sarah wanted to use Chuck's initial premise of a text and even allowing Jill to call Chuck to confirm it. She used the premise that it would still protect his involvement, but with all of them viewing the video the three in DC were convinced that Roberts knew Chuck was aware of who Sarah was. A different reason, that Sarah chose to share with Chuck later, was that she wanted Chuck to mention his attraction to the diner waitress as the final straw in barring the door to any relationship with the tramp. Sarah quickly refocused to creating a dialogue for Chuck to follow; she realized by his tone to the 'Three' insisting he was confronting Jill, that he instead was doing it more for what Jill said to her than what that incubator of untold bacterial combinations had done to him and that made her heart squeeze a little bit harder than she could ever recall and was subsequently caught staring at her nerd longer than necessary. A soft "Sarah" from Roan brought her back along with a brief blush at being caught. The group hammered out the general items that should hopefully bring out the info, but Sarah had her doubts, with a begrudging respect for the hussy, and kept one card to herself knowing that it was the only one she would call a sure thing.

After signing off and allowing Beckman to organize the potential groups on call: CDC, FBI, Fire, and Police; Chuck and Sarah did a brief run through which allowed Chuck to work out some issues as he was still highly emotional. Jill was playing possum as Casey caught certain movements that were not involuntary, so they proceeded with the plan. Chuck entered first by himself; with only an icepack with him. As he carefully lifted her head and placed the icepack on the mark clearly visible on her forehead everybody could hear the contented sigh the prisoner released. Jill 'recovered' quickly as she put on a full court press as she told a tale of how she had been brutally kidnapped, terrorized, and injured simply because she was trying to reconnect and make up for the biggest mistake in her life, letting Chuck go.

Sarah was slightly concerned as she could see Chuck's countenance soften as Jill spun her web of lies. She relaxed when she caught a twitch in his hand. That was a tell she picked up on while observing him when he was at the Buy More Geek Squad counter; it was his outlet when a customer was trying his patience. Sarah felt a little ashamed that she hadn't trusted Chuck enough, but a quick look at the brunette pixie stick told her Roberts was completely buying his performance. She gave a fleeting thought that Chuck could pull off being a spy, but brushed it off just as quickly; knowing he could do anything if he wanted, but the threat of his injury would make her a larger basket case than she already was. Just the thought of having to utilize her 'sure thing' began to cause a knot in her stomach.

Jill had finished her dissertation and Chuck started to speak and through his dismissive tone and accompanying look, the smile omnipresent on Jill Roberts' face disappeared leaving behind such a despondent expression even Sarah almost felt sorry for the Fulcrum operative. This Sarah attributed to watching her worst nightmare unfold even though it was happening to somebody else; knowing her cue was approaching she made her way to the entrance and brought up her 'Enforcer glare' before entering the room.

Having her emotional rug pulled out from under her by Chuck and then viewing Agent Walker entering looking as if she was ordered to work off her anger, but that exertion merely fueled it further. The gulp and wide eyed look made it clear Sarah had Jill clearly intimidated. The low snarl which Sarah now delivered her questions got some answers, but soon the delay tactics and cries of 'I don't know' were the only ones given. Despite Chuck placing his hand on top of Jill's and pleading with her to just answer the question, the prisoner steadfastly refused to answer. Sarah was afraid of this; although the others seemed to think this 'act' was the piece de resistance to break her, instead after the shock wore off, it turned into a dare: whether or not Sarah could unleash the can of whoop-ass on Jill in front of Chuck. The others, especially Chuck, all had insisted with time now running out she could do so, but it was a part of her she did not want to really unleash anymore unless it was protecting a select few. Jill had guessed correctly that having Chuck witness that side of her was the absolute last thing Sarah wanted; a quick glance at her watch told Sarah this was the moment where she had to either unleash the Enforcer or put her nuclear option in play. Knowing there would not be enough time now, since the bitch just chose to throw a smirk at her to regain consciousness before the conference started she invoked her plan.

"I can beat her to a pulp later, but we have to get somebody to that conference. I can't imagine it would be too difficult stepping into this walking STD's place and delivering the speech, wearing gloves of course," seeing Roberts scowl and begin to state Sarah's inability to deliver the technical aspects of her speech. Sarah quickly shut her up, "Just for curiosity's sake before I read your blah, blah speech is the reverse transcription done straight through RNA or is it set through proteins?" From Jill's blank reaction, she chose to completely ignore Chuck as she was well experienced with the look he would show whenever she surprised him with 'nerd talk' and knew that would distract her, "Don't want to tell me? Ok, I'm sure that is talked about in your speech."

A second of silence passed before Chuck spoke up as she hoped he would, "No! Sarah I can't let you do that. I'll go. You're right in that the speech should be easy to deliver and with LaFleur's death I doubt anybody would bother with throwing out questions to the person simply delivering the speech while his assistant was too traumatized to even show."

Sarah knew she wouldn't have to feign her reaction to his words and she could feel the scowl deepen from Jill as she both witnessed the Charah connection and to having her work disparaged. Jill could not hold it in any longer as, "Really, you think a person who I had to carry through an introductory level course could discuss any aspect of what I've done during the past two years," burst forth.

Both women were shocked as Chuck put out an indignant laugh, "Jill, I hate to break it to you, but if you are taking a class with your girlfriend in her major what is the easiest way to spend time with her?" Sarah caught the answer right away and offered a small smile, but Jill needed to work through it a little before acknowledging it. Chuck shared the answer as he knew time was wearing thin, "You pretend to struggle so you and her can study and cuddle." He leaned back from delivering that arguably rhyming line and looked at Sarah, who was beaming at him, to Jill who was still trying to deny what he had just said. "Jill, I scored a 98 on the final and you got a 93; granted yours was the second highest and it was cute watching you try to figure out which of your 'friends' was able to outdo you. It isn't anymore and to make it final and completely official to anyone with a semblance of brain activity. I cannot see any way that we could ever be together again."

Sarah's smile stayed firm as Chuck got up and left the room without giving Jill another look. After a half minute of absolute silence Jill managed to choke out, "You can't let him go."

Sarah compartmentalized and easily held back the joy that went with having a plan well executed and instead allowed her face to express its natural concern and in an emotional manner simply asked, "Why?"

Jill paused as she knew giving this card was throwing everything away; her resolve completely diminished as she recalled another 'gem' from Ryker: currently Truffaut(Walker) is disillusioned, but still is among the top players in the game; if she eventually finds something or someone she is passionate about she will be relentless if it is at risk of being taken away or harmed. A quick glance made Jill question whether she should have given up her faith; as a quick glance afforded her the chance to see the Enforcer glare was back and behind it a righteous anger that screamed if Chuck tripped on his way to the podium Hell would be a much better alternative for her. Jill shuddered as she was now lost in her head comprehending what she could be put through and for how long. Once again the growing familiar sound of an open hand slamming against the table startled her.

"You tell me now or I swear I'll keep you alive for at least a year and then release what's left of you!"

Jill almost nervously laughed as she was trying to comprehend what exactly her threat was when The Princess Bride and Wesley's threat of 'the Pain' found its way prominently in her mind. The look on Walker's face showed the recognition of where her mind was and instead of the expected smile her snarl seemed stronger. Even as Jill revealed the complete plan during the keynote speech, Agent Walker's face never let up; in fact, it seemed to grow even more tense as Jill shared the details. Apart from her parents, Chuck was the first 'outside' person Jill had encountered whose demise would even register with her; potentially being the cause of it sickened her, but when she finished with the details Jill offered a silent prayer that for both her and Chuck's sakes, the cute nerd that was once hers would make his way out of this unscathed.

After Jill finished and insisted she revealed everything she knew about this mission; Sarah rose from her chair never letting her eyes leave Roberts'. Before she turned to step out of the room she subtly sniffed and looked at the floor once she passed the threshold she allowed herself a very quick smile as she sent a call to Chuck.

The call caught Chuck as he was almost there and although Sarah wanted him to turn back and let the CDC handle the antidote in Jill's room and the FBI/Police to apprehend the person who will 'unleash' the virus from the air vent. Chuck's insistence on continuing to go there and help where he can left a flustered Sarah to tell him that he was not to go wandering by himself and that she was on her way. Chuck took note of the strain in her voice and decided to heed her call. He furnished the information to the groups, organizing them, and chose to remain in the parking lot waiting for Sarah with the 'leaders' of the respective groups in a makeshift command center consisting of a tent next to the SWAT vehicle.

Contacting Beckman after hanging up with Chuck left her with the problem of what to do with Roberts. Neither brought up the easy option of simply putting a bullet through her; Sarah because shooting an unarmed, handcuffed prisoner brought back thoughts of her Red Test. Beckman didn't bring it up as Roberts was a potential fountain of information about Fulcrum's operation, but with Walker's insistence about going out to the asset… Bartowski, Beckman reluctantly allowed it. She relayed that there were two customers currently in the Orange Orange who are undercover NSA. If Bartowski was at work they would be at the Buy More and when he was in Castle they would be assigned to walk around the mall area as a perimeter lookout. Beckman contacted the two to go to Castle via the bathroom entrance as the person currently working the counter was one of the few civilian workers employed. While Walker should easily enough be able to leave through the emergency exit next to the freezer.

Sarah was torn in protecting Chuck and keeping an eye on his ex; even though she was eventually broken to give out the information Jill Roberts still presented a definite threat in Sarah's mind. She vehemently insisted to the two agents not to underestimate the prisoner, but she could tell it was simply going in one ear and out the other. She headed out to her Porsche and allowed the car to burn through her negative energy as she sped towards the hotel.

Her mood dramatically shifted as she pulled up to the hotel; immediately finding him she couldn't hold back the smile and seemingly in a few strides leapt from the Porsche into Chuck's shocked arms. After Chuck's utterance of 'why', Sarah whispered out, "You listened to me."

Chuck had to take a few breaths as his immediate response would have been that he always listened to her, but to this point he hadn't even realized that her previous request was the equivalent of 'stay in the car'. From the relief exuding from the blonde superspy Chuck chided himself for never realizing before now, just how much Sarah was hurt, even though things always had turned out alright. He clutched her a little tighter as the outlet to keep his emotions in check. After releasing each other their hands kept in contact as they made their way to the 'command center' where the LA SWAT commander, the Fire Chief, and a CDC scientist all miserably failed in an attempt to convince the two they did not witness their PDA. Soon after the awkwardness lifted a squawk came out of the radio that the 'terrorist' had escaped the first line of defense and was making his way to the kitchen.

Sarah jumped on that stating she would take care of it and ran off to the side where the kitchen delivery entrance was located. As she turned the corner, the SWAT Commander Hondo said, "A fine ass woman like that, who drives a Porsche, carries a gun, and kicks ass," Hondo pauses as Chuck nods with a huge grin on his face, "looked at me like I was every birthday and Christmas present she could ever want. That my friends is the dream."

Chuck blushed while the CDC scientist nodded, the fire chief hesitated for a moment before he spoke up, "Well, it used to be getting some curly fries in an order of regular fries, but after seeing this one was actually possible… yeah, that is the dream. Don't blow it kid." They all then focused on the radio play by play account as Sarah knocked out the Fulcrum agent in less than two minutes. The other three casually took a look and could easily see the pride beaming from Agent Carmichael as Sarah dropped the scumbag and this time he rushed over to her when she turned the corner. Chuck took a cursory look to make sure she was fine and although she tried to roll her eyes it was obvious she enjoyed the concern shown by her partner.

It was effectively silent for the next ten minutes as they cleared the conference room while both identifying and isolating the distribution device. The group in Jill's room made their way back and started talking hardcore genetics leaving all non-CDC people shaking their heads. Finally the one who was in the command center broke it down for the others that this would have been at the least, a severe flu for everybody, but designed to be fatal to a target group. When Sarah asked if they could identify the specific target the scientists shook their head and said they would need to run tests back at their labs regardless to test the strain's viability, even if they found Jill's laptop which happened to be locked away in Castle, there was important information that needed to be verified to help offer them a clue as to what potentially could be coming.

A SWAT pair came down carrying a box that appeared to be locked via a puzzle. Chuck's eyes brightened as he started to talk quickly about Fibonacci, but Sarah grabbed both his wrists and offered a slight glare that had him quickly pull his hands off the box. While she grabbed a large plastic bag and placed the box in it. At the inquiring look from the others, "Don't want this to be booby trapped," was all Chuck offered, but the group all seemed perfectly fine with that explanation; even the ones slightly disappointed as their brains concocted a shared superspy safety shower scenario.

A shrill ring told Sarah, Beckman was calling for an update. She gave the Commander a look and he recited they were still sweeping, but had not located any other 'bad players'. Sarah took the call and relayed the information as well as the box located in LaFleur's hotel room safe. Beckman was pleased until a noise came from her end that caused her to lose her stoic demeanor and mutter an obscenity. Chuck initially was conversing with the other people until he felt compelled to take a quick gander at Sarah. Her furrowed eyebrows were enough for Chuck to excuse himself and make his way over to her.

As he approached he slowed down as it was obvious Sarah was pissed off especially as her last words before ending the call were 'If they survive my recommendation is castration. They can start to use their other head… yes General'. Sarah was all set to yell for Chuck when she saw him standing there with the bag containing the box and allowed an all too brief smile, in Chuck's opinion, to appear and disappear. She motioned to her car then broke into a light jog and Chuck naturally followed. As they entered he offered his questioning look, "Jill escaped from the two jokers posing as NSA Agents and made a call to the same person she contacted after the breakfast. Currently he is trying to break into Castle, they don't know the status of the counter girl at the Orange Orange; she was not able to activate the alarm and does not appear in the cameras." The sigh Sarah uttered told Chuck her concern over the girl and he placed his hand on top of the one holding the shifter. Sarah offered her gratitude smile and they sped off. The drive consisted of Sarah creating a plan which Chuck immediately rebuffed vehemently of his staying in the car while she rushed into the OO and taking on presumably the man called 'Leader'. The compromise plan consisted of Chuck entering Castle via the Buy More making sure the computers were still secure as Chuck had implemented the protocols before he left.

Sarah entered the OO via the side entrance and saw that Leader at first glance appeared to be a typecast villain from Central Casting and while he was furiously trying to bypass the biometric lock Sarah was able to sneak up on him and deliver her first blow, a thrust kick to his knee, that essentially tore all three ligaments rendering him one legged for the contest which was ended after an exchange of blows that had both landing some impressive shots. Sarah quickly found the girl gagged and bound in the bathroom, scared, but physically unharmed. Sarah cut the plastic ties and asked the girl if the man took her wallet, after a slight panic the girl stated her purse was still locked as far as she knew. Sarah led her to the locker area and grabbed her purse and jacket telling her to go home and the police will come by to ask a few questions. Sarah grabbed a few zip ties and waited for the familiar ding to signify the counter girl had left. She then approached the slumbering body of the Fulcrum jackass cocky enough to call himself 'Leader'. She anticipated him playing possum and was soundly disappointed as he only began to stir awake as the door to Castle swung open where she could hear a loud discussion between two voices she could easily identify.

Walking into the Buy More Chuck was gracefully able to avoid the two people who could cause him a problem, Morgan and Big Mike. Although Jeff spotted him and they exchanged a greeting, Chuck could easily deny it the next day and nobody, including Jeff would doubt it. He made his way to the entertainment display room and entered Castle. In getting to the communication room he passed the armory which was still locked and the locker room where he found an agent knocked out and bleeding lightly from his head which Chuck gagged at, but at albeit closer look than he wanted; it appeared clotted. The other agent was locked in the interrogation room with one hand cupping his groin, while the other would pound on the door for a few seconds before going to the back of his head. Chuck also noted he did not have his gun in his holster. Making a decision that this guy was too embarrassed, angry, and injured to think rationally Chuck chose to leave him in there for the time being. He found Jill at the bottom of the stairs with the gun tentatively pointing up towards the door.

As Chuck rose from behind one of the workstations he knocked some inconsequential item to the floor. The small noise was enough to cause Jill to turn and point her gun at Chuck when she quickly dropped her arm, "Chuck! What are you doing? I could have shot you!" The shock and concern on her face was evident, but Chuck closed his eyes, took a deep breath and upon opening them stepped out fully while pulling a gun from his waistband.

"Jill, I can't let you shoot Sarah."

"How do you know she's going to be coming down and not Leader?"

"Why are you holding a gun to the door if you believe in him that much?" Jill's doubt seemed to grow at that point and pulled her gun back to Chuck.

"Please don't make me shoot you." Jill pleaded, her look matched the tone of her voice and Chuck gulped, but still held his gun on her.

"Jill, you aren't a killer. If there's one thing I would state as a certainty it would be that. No matter what else you've done. Both the agents down here are still alive and you could have easily finished either one, if not both, if you wanted."

Jill swallowed at that and took a deep stare onto Chuck as if she was looking straight into his soul and without a word refocused both her attention and gun at the door. Chuck offered an incredulous look to nobody before uttering, "Why would you do that?"

Jill did not turn away, but still spoke, "You may be right that I have not killed, but I can easily offer the same opinion back at you. I cannot fathom that you are able to pull that trigger. On the other hand I have every reason to be able to pull the trigger on your precious Agent Walker." The spite venomously dripping off of every word and a hardened look on Jill's face Chuck had never seen before led him to change his mind about her veracity in pulling the trigger.

"Jill," Chuck offered in a placating voice, "After nothing for six years following that day at Stanford. How could you possibly think that I could ever trust you again?"

The break in Jill's voice when she said, "If it weren't for her you would have," offered Chuck no clue if he was helping or harming the situation at this point.

At that moment the door opened up and soon one shot, followed by another, with a metallic ping thrown in, and a thud along with some mumbled words were all Sarah could make out as she held her side arm as she cautiously made her way down the stairs.

 _ **A/N: Truly apologize for the cliffhanger. I did not plan to end this chapter here and for those ticked thinking they have to wait another ridiculously long time for the next chapter; take a deep breath, but don't hold it, as it is just about completed. I thought posting a 15k+ chapter was a little too much. Although I really wanted to 'finish' Jill in two chapters; it looks like she may have the proverbial nine lives of a cat. A preemptive answer to a potential question: the intermittent problems from the interrogation room are a result of all the times Team Bartowski has utilized loops to prevent the transmission of items they thought demanded privacy.**_


	11. Chapter 11

_**A/N: Again I apologize on the cliffhanger the last chapter was left at. This is the second part of what was a looonnnggg chapter 10, but as it seemingly grew exponentially; I figured I would either have to edit, excise, or simply find a place to split it; splitting seemed the best option. If it has been awhile since reading the story; you have not read Chapter 10. Please push the previous chapter button right away as this chapter will probably not make any sense, well any more sense. Thanks for those who have chosen to stick with this story; even more to the ones that review as all feedback is welcomed. I did give an identity to one of the two NSA Agents Jill knocked out, one that perhaps those fans of JAG may enjoy. There will be a conclusive end to the story… eventually… but we are getting there. This is now my longest story in terms of chapters and words; also my most viewed story which is a slight surprise.**_

 **Chapter 11**

The long black hair sprawled across the bottom few steps had Sarah cry out, "Chuck!" He appeared in her view a moment later kneeling beside the downed figure carefully trying to move her hair from her face when they could both see blood dripping from her body. Chuck turned and vomited at the sight. Sarah once again felt caught in the middle of something as she stopped to inspect Chuck's ex, but found herself drawn to look over to give at least a cursory exam of Chuck as he waved Sarah off while pointing at the crumpled heap. Sarah took a quick study and recognized the look on Chuck's face from her own past. Thankfully, for Chuck's sake, there was a steady pulse and Sarah could see the shot was a through and though in the shoulder. The problem was the angle of Roberts' neck was not quite normal and when Chuck had regained enough composure to try and help; Sarah had to yell at him not to move her.

Sarah hated herself for a moment as she observed Chuck's reaction to her demand, but knowing she was losing him to the worst recesses of his mind and the only directions he seemed to follow were the ones delivered in an authoritarian manner she stayed in that mode until they were able to stabilize Roberts for transport. Sarah chose to stay with the unconscious Fulcrumette while Chuck checked on the two agents that were supposed to guard her. A minute later she saw Chuck support one of the agents onto a chair, accept an icepack and place it on his head while calmly breathing. When Sarah looked back Chuck had gone for the other agent, and could soon hear a belligerent, caustic string of words. Sarah watched as the two appeared with Chuck at the side and slightly behind warily watching the agent whose hands were occupied with two different areas of his anatomy.

Once the agent identified the crumpled body at the edge of the stairs; he rushed over with clear intent etched on his face. Chuck attempted to stop the agent, but a low blow and hip toss found him sprawled on the floor. The agent rushed over to exact some retribution when the cold metal muzzle of a gun pressed against his forehead stopped him in his tracks. The cold look from the Valkyrie in front of him told him there were two outcomes; either he leaves in a body bag or substantially more injured than he currently is; as he was well aware of the earned reputation of the woman in front of him. That sobered the agent and the anger momentarily left his body and while Walker showed she recognized that, her stance remained unchanged. She chose to use this opportunity for her eyes to scan behind the agent and when they came back to meet his, he realized his lifespan was measurable in seconds. Somehow this thought relaxed him and offered up a muted, "I'm sorry."

The agent brought his eyes back up to see the action had delayed the execution, but it was apparent that alone was not going to be enough for a stay of it. The disgruntled initial look the agent gave after Sarah stated she wasn't the one owed that 'weakass' apology left him in a quandary at his next step as it had always been enough before. The look changed to disbelief as Agent Walker laid out her plan as to what he could do to initially show his penance; either he could slap himself or she would followed by a growl that echoed through the room. All three men in the room and even the one incapacitated at the top all felt their bladders loosen a little from the noise. The agent in trouble took a look back at their respective partners and with a reluctant nod, slapped himself. Chuck and the other agent offered cursory glances while trying to ignore the sight in front of them as they began to move while Sarah demanded, "Harder," twice. An indignant huff followed by an order he start and finish his report before he sought medical attention, unless there was something more injured then his pride were the only audio cues in the room for a few moments. Hearing the agent walk off, Chuck and the other Agent were both now seated and offering all attention to her. While the other agent regarded Sarah with an acknowledging nod that her punishment given was deserved in his opinion and held no ill feelings. Her look changed to show sadness as Chuck chose not to return her look.

The 'special' paramedics arrived along with a security detail. Once 'Leader' was removed, the EMT's performed a quick exam and offered the obligatory good news and bad. The initial prognosis for Jill to survive was positive due to the actions that were taken. The bad was that she needed to go to a facility that offered far more than their mobile hospital can provide and that Westside was the best option available. Chuck's head lifted with that bit of information and Sarah caught his eyes for a moment, but couldn't quite identify what was going on, although she held a strong suspicion. As she watched them secure Roberts to a gurney Sarah led them to the 'service' elevator. She wasn't surprised to find that Chuck had followed them and she tried to keep him within her view, noting the pained look as the paramedics loaded her in and pressed the button to bring her up. They brought the other agent to the surface as he was also placed in the 'ambulance'; which appeared on the outside as a medium sized moving truck, for precautionary purposes after he admitted to feelings of dizziness and nausea.

They headed back down and Sarah brought them to a table where they both sat in silence for a minute. Chuck was still sitting while his brain was still attempting to process everything that has just happened, but not succeeding. He watched Sarah get up and head to a room that had been adopted as the guest office. He tried to guess what that conversation would include, but that only seemed to add to the maelstrom Chuck's mind currently was in. When he felt Sarah's presence he looked up and was shocked to see how tired she appeared. Sarah registered his look as something wrong with her and as she tried to turn away he lightly grasped her hand and began to rub the back of it with his thumb. When she shyly turned around Chuck's look was one of reverence, Sarah blushed and smiled before asking, "Are you all right?"

Chuck in trying to avoid the silence offered back, "I'm a little surprised you didn't have them inspect me as well. I am a little embarrassed. He tossed me around like a rag doll." He paused and offered a smile to Sarah's obvious concern, "I'm sore, but no real injuries."

Sarah stared at him while he answered and was apparently satisfied as she helped leverage Chuck up and as they headed back up a different set of stairs to keep Chuck from having to step over the relatively small amount of blood at the bottom of the normal entrance with their hands interlocked she whispered to him, "Actually with Ellie on duty, I figured anything that is a hangnail or above will have you fitted for a body cast within the hour."

As Chuck's mind was still racing with all the other stimuli, it took a minute for what Sarah said to fully register; leaving her to mull why she even attempts humor when the outburst of earnest laughter brought a smile to her face. They had climbed inside the Porsche when Chuck's laughter subsided into a sob. At Chuck's insistence they headed to the hospital instead of Casa Bartowski to decompress. Thanks to Sarah's lead foot they made it to the hospital to see Jill unloaded and the other agent hop out denying he needed any further care. While they did not see Ellie, the Registering Nurse recognized the younger Bartowski sibling as she watched him lead a statuesque blonde to one of the private waiting areas and whimsically thought they made an attractive couple.

It took far too long for the shock to leave Ellie Bartowski's face when she found Jill Roberts placed down in front of her. She closed her eyes and allowed her medical training to take over as she was told of the symptoms and events. It was clear X-rays needed to be taken and a blood sample for the anesthesiologist to determine what could be given, as surgery seemed to be a high probability. Without looking at her 'patient' she ordered for those items that needed to be done and called over the other on-call ER doctor to state they needed to switch patients. After already taking care of the man who walked in with the patient strapped to the gurney by sending him up to a room to be observed for the night; the other doctor reluctantly agreed, but gave a look that he would need answers later. The sudden lull and lack of a patient to focus on allowed Ellie's imagination to start. Taking a deep breath she headed to ER1, where Jill was, when the other doctor stopped her and said he agreed with everything she had done. They were just waiting for the word back from the lab; if they were to take her to surgery prep or a room to wait for her to wake and then begin preparations. After hearing of the patient's identity and 'relation to Ellie' the doctor also concurred with her decision to exchange. Although he had only met Chuck a few times he completely understood and observing the nervous energy begin to consume Ellie he told her it was about time for her break.

Ellie tried to smile at her friend as he told her to go on her break, but it fell short. She made her way to the front desk to make sure Chuck hadn't come in with an injury and was ushered elsewhere. Just because the last time he had come in with Ellie on duty; a sprained ankle ended with him leaving with a hip to toe cast. She still scoffed at the claim she had overreacted. A nurse then told her that he and a blonde woman went off to the corner waiting room. Ellie thanked her and allowed for a full breath of relief that the both of them were ok. However a number of questions as to how this all transpired started to act as an itch that needed to be scratched. Knowing she had to get the actual answers before her mind casually filled them in led to the forceful strut she took to bring her to the waiting room. When Ellie arrived at the doorway the sight before her stopped her dead in her tracks.

The two were sitting next to each other with their arms wrapped around the other; Sarah's head was resting on Chuck's shoulder. Both were clearly emotional, and despite that itch, Ellie had a feeling intruding on this moment would be horrifically wrong. However, she couldn't find it in herself to pull away either. Neither noticed Ellie staring at them as the two were in their own world for the moment; Sarah would lift her head at something Chuck would whisper; she would whisper something back while running a hand through his hair which noticeably calmed him. Until there was one thing he said that caused Sarah to go still before she lovingly placed her hands on the sides of his face and forced him to look at her while she responded. She let go of him completely and appeared to inch away from him before he grabbed her and started to cry into her chest.

This brought back a painful memory for the doctor; despite how dramatic and fatalistic the betrayals of Larkin, Roberts, and Stanford were; Chuck never cried. He internalized everything and although Devon insisted he probably waited until both of them were out of the house to let it out, Ellie had her doubts.

One month after their mother had left; Chuck's optimism that she would return was completely eliminated. Ellie heard him lightly knocking on her door, teary eyed begging for his sister to at least try to forgive him for breaking the charm bracelet and not to leave him as well. She could not recall how long she held him, alternating between assuring she would never leave him, and that their mother did not leave because of the charm bracelet. Ellie was a little surprised at how much that memory still affected her. She was about to wipe away the stray tears that appeared when she saw their positions were now reversed. Shame started to creep in, watching something so intimate and despite witnessing something so innately beautiful, it was also apparent there was something intrinsically sad passing between them. Ellie left them knowing that while some questions were currently unanswered, far more important ones were.

Even with the talk the three had later when they went to find her; Ellie could easily spot that they had somehow gotten even closer, but there was still something keeping them from truly being happy. Despite the strength of their connection Ellie couldn't help but worry as she could sense there were still obstacles in their path and her mind wandered as to what they could be.

Larkin had to choose just that moment to reappear; coming back from the grave like some schlock horror film villain; or as if you could ever ascribe anything Biblical to that Prince of Darkness, instead of Lazarus he would be Lazerass. It was a fitting name for the douche bag, although just the thought of him was now making her regret that Danish from the vending machine. The only apparent reason for his 'resurrection' that she could come up with was to continue disrupting the lives of two people he went out of his way to harm for simply his personal amusement. While the two on the couch must still be reeling from whatever Larkin managed to do with what limited time he interacted with them. It just had to be followed up immediately with 'The Wicked Bitch of Stanford', Jill Roberts. The name alone caused a painful surge of energy running up and down her spinal column. 'Just when they clear one hurdle'… she was able to keep that thought in the back of her mind knowing she still had four hours left on her shift.

As Ellie survived the rest of her shift and made it home; after a large glass of wine she spent an hour in the bathroom crying about why it seemed like the two people in the world most deserving of any type of break couldn't get one. When Devon came home and found her; he brought them back to the living room and after hearing the problems could only offer that at least they had each other. A viewing of When Harry Met Sally, a pint of Haagen-Dazs Cookies and Cream, and the big spoon position did not completely curb the worry she held for her brother and Sarah as the soon to be Awesome's lay in bed. Somehow her mind resolved nothing could be done at the moment and she was able to get some restorative sleep.

Chuck had never felt that comfortable in the general ER waiting area. His empathy towards the people; both the injured and those waiting, always overwhelmed him the times he went to wait for Ellie to finish off her shift. One of the nurses observed this and showed him the room he and Sarah were in now. He was unsure how they got in the positions they found themselves in, but even if, at first glance, it logistically appeared uncomfortable Chuck found himself relaxing. However, his brain/mouth filter seemed to have disappeared as he just kept on whispering all sorts of disparate questions and relaxed further as Sarah somehow answered them. It didn't seem to matter what she said, he would swear one of her answers was 'Pineapple', but her voice was the redemptive salve for his troubled soul. He had no idea why the question of 'why would she do everything she did to save Jill' sent a collective chill through the two of them. The subsequent cupping of his face while staring at Sarah's saddened azure eyes captivated him until her lips moved and his focus was moved entirely on them.

"Chuck, while I know and somewhat understand when you have griped about what the spy life has taken from you. I think that if you look at it from a distance, it has also given you a number of things that are positive." She swallowed and offered a small smile before continuing, "However there is one thing that I swore to myself on that first morning at the beach. If I allowed all of this to overburden you and take away your humanity I would never forgive myself. I know I haven't done a good enough job at that, but self-preservation is the strongest instinct for a successful spy."

They stared into each other's eyes and the turmoil was evident in both and they could see the visible cracks in the walls surrounding the other's heart caught in whether to repair or demolish. Sarah moved her hands away as she was trying to figure out what exactly was happening as she felt she was losing the control she craved, but soon Chuck buried his head into her chest and she could feel him crying before hearing the sobs and the moisture hitting her shirt. After a while in doing her best to comfort him, she felt this burst of emotion that she was completely unfamiliar with, Sarah bluntly uttered out, "I thought I lost you when I heard the shot."

Chuck was feeling the weight of holding back everything lighten as he was crying. The fear of embarrassment ceased, but he was unsure as to the limit of what Sarah could absorb bounced around in his head as he heard her tearful admission. He quickly ran through the scenario with a less emotional eye and moved so he could confirm that he heard exactly what she said. It did not take long to see she had said it and was lost with how to deal with what she admitted. Chuck did his best to reassure Sarah that she did not lose him and more importantly should not feel shame in admitting her fears to him. As he whispered this to Sarah, a familiar scent hit Chuck's nose which was followed by the soft sound of their room's door closing. Chuck put that to the back of his mind as there were more important matters at hand and after a few minutes he apologized for once again not just staying in the car.

Sarah looked up to him and it surprised him at that moment she was more beautiful than he could ever recall and with his malfunctioning filter quickly vocalized his observation. She looked at him suddenly convinced he had a concussion, but his eyes denoted simply the sincerity of his thought and not the onset of a concussion. She wondered once again how it was possible for him to be perfect. Not a perfection that aligned with everyone's version, but no other person had made her feel human, let alone want her to be human and accept her immeasurable flaws as though they weren't. Throughout her life nobody else could accomplish even one of those tasks and Chuck did all three regularly. Chuck was flabbergasted as she gave him the awestruck look that he reserved for her.

The words she shared allowed his awestruck look to shine forth, "Chuck that is another thing I was able to deduce from our first night together, as you stupidly ran to where the bomb was. No matter what you try to do to convince yourself that you are not; you are a hero… You're my hero." Sarah barely whispered the last sentence, but from the tightening around her torso and the feel of his head begin to shake she lifted his head off her shoulder and when they connected he could see her eyes once again burn brightly as she continued, "I told you once before that even though nobody else may ever know, I did know. I just hope that you have gotten rid of any lingering Bryce 'Fucking' Larkin negative comparisons and if you think there is any category you fall short of him in other than being a bastard. I will take strong offense to it… no matter who the idiot is that says it, including you." She emphasized that with a sudden light push to his shoulder, but somewhat amused from his response being merely that quirky grin she just sighed, "What am I going to do with you?" She then placed her head back on his shoulder and wondered how it could possibly fit there so comfortably; as she once again wrapped her arms around his torso.

The agent left at Castle had written his report, and as the effect of the Enforcer's glare began to diminish his bruised ego started to grow back. Thinking back to all the humiliations he had to suffer back in his days where he was once the self-appointed 'Golden Boy of the CIA' to where his station was now, subjugated to be the whipping boy of Graham's pet project. As he submitted his report his enlarged ego took control, with the help of four fingers of scotch he liberated from the Major's locker, and demanded to discuss a matter with the General. Knowing this was a priority assignment and possibly his last shot at working his way back up, he convinced himself she would want to know when some CIA skirt chose to act as the authority, over her in an NSA op.

He was a little surprised at the ease of connection and it continued as there were three people visible on screen. Recognizing the other two, the agent stammered through the obviously sound reasons he felt that the call was necessary in conjunction with the report. When his rambling came to an end the disappointed faces evident on all three started the realization he may have finally committed occupational suicide with this call.

The degrading grunt from Casey left little doubt as to his thoughts as he grunted he was on his way to reviewing the footage and hoped the report matched what he would view. Agent Montgomery seemed to entirely dismiss him as he exited the screen; the only acknowledgement Montgomery was still there was an offer if the General 'wanted one' which the agent presumed was liquor. With the other two off screen that initial realization was confirmed by the look of disdain from the General. He could swear it was like watching an old cartoon as the steam built up, her face turning red and puffing up, before finally exploding.

"You had one fucking job and since you obviously don't have the mental capacity to remember it; I will remind you. Your job was to simply watch out for Agent Carmichael and make sure no harm comes to him. You didn't need to interact with him. All you had to be for all practical purposes was a g-d damned chaperone. So what do you decide to do? Sucker punch him while he was trying to prevent you from killing our best, direct source of Fulcrum intel in a number of years. I can see your mouth twitch, but understand unless what comes out is more eloquent than the Emancipation Proclamation it will only bury you further. I am shocked Walker didn't dispose of your sorry ass right then. I'm fairly certain I would not have spared you. Pack whatever you have immediately, besides the Rum, Scotch, and Vodka; as I will not aggravate her anymore by your presence when she returns. You have one last chance of exhibiting any level of skill as I expect you to report to me at 0730 tomorrow morning. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt because of your name and assume you understand the implications if you aren't here. Get out of my sight!" The connection was ended.

The agent took a moment to reflect on his choices and knowing he had a Fed Ex pilot who owed him decided he would show up in DC well before the deadline. While he made the call, he did soberly realize Walker was definitely right about at least one thing and grabbed a loose piece of paper. Clayton Webb may be a number of things, but he certainly knew when he actually was to blame for something as he quickly wrote out, 'Hey Kid, sorry I caught you off guard earlier today. I am known for my quick reflexes, so hopefully in the future you will take this as a lesson in not underestimating your opponent. If you find yourself in DC, look me up and I'll let you buy me a scotch.' He looked it over, nodded his approval and left it on the table as he made his way out of Castle.

In DC Roan just finished mixing an exceptionally dry martini, placing one on the General's desk even though she had told him no. Beckman offered a soft chuckle to Roan's amused look; she explained, "Do you think I should have told him I'm strongly considering Walker's initial choice of punishment even before encountering him; of castration?"

Roan swallowed quickly recognizing one of his few sins, the wasting of alcohol, was severely tested as the sight gag of spitting out liquid was on the verge of occurring, "My dear General," Roan choked out to the General's amusement, "I can think of two, well perhaps in this case three, things that a male agent holds dear. Presenting that potential result to him, especially him; would virtually guarantee his disappearing. While nothing about him or his career has been remarkable. It is a sad way for the legacy of his lineage to end. I do recall him from one of my first classes and it was apparent even then; the shine of his name fueled grandiose plans from those blinded by it and privileges his abilities couldn't come close to deliver upon. While your speech was harsh, I did appreciate the fact that you stuck up for Charles." He finished with his come hither smile before taking another sip of his drink.

The General nodded and allowed herself to take a sip of the expertly portioned drink while she began to look over the report. Placing the glass down and pinching her nose brought Roan's attention away from pouring his second and left the mini bar to see Diane offering him the piece of paper. After reading it he was unsure of the problem and so she iterated it, "Do you think they are on their way here, or at the hospital?"

Roan initially shrugged his shoulders, "I think it depends on what Casey discovers reviewing the tape." He saw his General attempt yet pause to reach for the phone a half dozen times, before she instead chose to slam back the rest of the drink. Roan knew the atmosphere in the room was going to be dark until Casey returned or she actually made the call to Walker making his only viable option to remain absolutely quiet unless she called upon him.

Sarah was lightly dozing when she heard her phone ring; a quick look up to Chuck signified he had also fallen asleep. She gave an apologetic look for waking him, which he brushed off with a sleepy smile. He couldn't control the guffaw after Sarah pulled out her phone and mouthed 'Beckman'. She gave a punch in the shoulder and gave a quick glare until she realized there was nobody else around that required the silence and said, "Sorry," out loud. The third ring had Sarah tap answer, and right after she gave the General a salutation she asked Chuck if he wanted to check on the status of the two patients. As his look paled she patted him on the leg before getting up and walking to the other end of the room, having an idea that the General would be displeased with them not being airborne.

Sarah's instinct was correct as she offered her report. Although the General was generally happy with the outcome of thwarting the plot at the hotel, the apprehension of 'Leader', and even the optimistic initial outlook presented for Roberts gave the General time to concoct ways that her subsequent and necessary care could be used as leverage for further information. However the fact they were not on the plane headed to DC simply eluded her. Sarah attempted the parts of the story again emphasizing the reasons and Chuck could hear and see the frustration start to creep in as the General still just could not understand. It took Casey entering the room, hearing Walker's strained voice and the General's retort of 'Chuck needing some big boy pants' for the Major to speak out.

"Walker, relax for now and take care of Chuck. I expect you guys to fly in tomorrow unless there is a turn for the worse." He could imagine the flash of a smile gracing Sarah's face as they disconnected and allowed a small smile to escape before allowing his stoic façade to return. He took a deep breath while Roan held his, but slightly turned his chair for a better angle to witness this; as Casey turned to face the furious General.

Casey held up his hands, "I think I've gotten to know the both of them pretty well and even though you may be both women I still recognize a pissing contest and insulting the nerd is not a winning strategy. She took care of Leader upstairs while Roberts and Bartowski faced off in Castle. Roberts had Agent Dumbass's pistol while Chuck just had a tranq. Roberts obviously is not proficient at recognizing side arms as she didn't recognize it as such. Bartowski kept it on her throughout and fired at the exact right time. Roberts moved her gun from Chuck to the door, but eventually had her gun held to the entrance after establishing to herself Chuck wouldn't shoot. Once the tranq hit, she pulled the trigger; from what I could tell it ricocheted back off the stairs hitting her in the shoulder. She lost her balance and her head and/or neck struck the edge of the stairs …hard. I could not get a clear shot of her on the stairs, but Chuck thought she was dead and that he killed her. Actually, I know he'll feel guilty even if that bitch recovers fully because that is who he is. He is not a killer, but he is a protector. You can try and beat that innate compassion out of him, but he did not sign up for this. Despite doing pretty much everything we've asked with getting absolutely nothing in return, well except an aborted assassination attempt. He is still out there helping us when he has absolutely no reason to." He was going to continue his diatribe when he felt Roan's hand upon his shoulder.

"Major, I think you've made your point, and for the record I concur with your observations." Beckman offered a surprised glance of betrayal to Montgomery, "General, from what I've gathered a good portion of the team's success is because Charles is not a spy. It isn't as though I don't think he would make a good spy, he probably could be excellent. I am not sure the benefit outweighs the cost. Also no matter how formidable I know you are in any contest, well… I don't think this is the proper time for my opinion." He offered his strongest look to back up his words as Casey's exclamation of an assassination attempt was fueling a rage he hadn't felt in quite some time.

The disappointment was evident on his face and Beckman was surprised once again that she was affected by it, but managed to hold her composure as she looked at Casey and stated since the two weren't going to be here until tomorrow he could report back here at 1200. When he stated he would prefer to be here by 0730 for Agent Dumbass they both exchanged a smile and nod. Saluting both the Major wished them a good night before exiting the room. The frown reappeared on her face as she turned to Roan. He shrugged his shoulders, but didn't soften his countenance.

Roan chose to break the silence by asking if they were going out for dinner or if he should be ordering in. At her question of where; he stated Ambar was one that was highly recommended and thought the Eastern European menu should contain some old favorites. She asked for a half hour to get through the paperwork she currently had and knew was forthcoming from the day's events. Roan lifted her hand and kissed it before exiting the office allowing her to return to her work uninterrupted.

Sarah felt a sense of relief from Casey backing her up and she had a strong belief that he was sincere and not playing her to more easily earn back her trust. Also, that he may have been more insightful than she ever thought as he somehow seemed to understand why Chuck couldn't be on that plane and why she would not force him to do anything he wasn't ready for. The smile she gave to Chuck as she approached surprised him considering the tone she was just using and as he scrunched his face trying to guess what happened she ended right back next to him sitting down and leaning against him.

"Ok, know that I would never call you mercurial," Sarah raised an eyebrow at that and Chuck struggled to continue, "Um… well…" Sarah placed her hand on Chuck's and shook her head with a smirk on her face, "What happened right at the end? For a second I was thinking of what I was going to tell Ellie because right now I have to think she…"

The look on Sarah went to one of great concern; she placed her fingers on Chuck's lips before she started to speak, "I should have realized that was going through your head, but no. As you probably guessed the General and I have strongly different opinions as to where the place you needed to be was. I know if we were on the plane you couldn't concentrate. When we got there and you were still concerned about Jill's welfare; and subsequently, unfairly blaming yourself while assuming absolutely every horrible possibility for that woman. We would have difficulty to be able to accomplish whatever this situation is that has a stick up the General's panties." Chuck started to shake his head when Sarah said 'unfairly blaming' and although extremely funny the mention of the General's undergarment started to cause his brain to go into meltdown. Sarah saw Chuck begin to drift and unaware to the cause she grabbed his chin, "No. Did you force Jill to injure the two agents, take one of their guns and point it to where I would be?" Chuck tried to roll his eyes, "No. I want to hear your answer right now how that is your fault and don't placate me."

Chuck opened his mouth and nothing came out. He tried once more and after failing to say anything attempted his puppy dog eyes to worm his way out of the situation. Sarah sighed and stood up, Chuck followed suit with a skeptical look on his face until she said, "Since you are not going to talk about this. We should probably find your sister and see what's going on. I'm sure she is worried sick about where you are when blah blah was wheeled in here."

Chuck forced a smile at Sarah's refusal to say Jill's name, even though she had just said it, albeit in a far more serious context. "You're right. Although I think she may have found us and decided to not disturb us."

"Oh," was all Sarah could muster. While she could look at many of the top assassins, the most vile power brokers, or even waltz into the cantina in Mos Eisley with a droid and laugh at the lot of them; Ellie Bartowski brought out a reaction the superspy was unaccustomed to.

Chuck realized this and whispered to her, "You shouldn't be embarrassed whether Ellie found us or not. In fact if she did she'll probably give you a hug. I just want to prepare you."

That comment confused Sarah up to the point where they were able to find Ellie and she promptly latched onto Sarah tightly, before speaking a word, promising a girl's night for the two of them. Sarah chose not to ask what that entailed as Chuck's older sister looked at her with pride and Sarah shyly ducked her head unsure why she deserved that look. Chuck couldn't help but smile at Sarah's reaction; however the reason why they were at the hospital and knowing that all these emotions had Sarah both frayed and exhausted; forced him to end the moment between the two and ask about Jill.

Ellie's instant reaction of putting a hand to her forehead put both on high alert that something went wrong or that their EMT's missed something vital. "Sorry, no, she is in surgery right now. From all signs the spinal cord appears intact, but there are cracks in the C2 and C3 vertebrae. Unless they discover something the prognosis is a complete recovery, but she will likely have to wear a halo for at least a few months… I have to ask what happened and why is one of the people who was watching Larkin's room now pacing around the OR waiting area?"

Sarah quickly answered that with a harried look accompanying her quickly stating, "Everything happened so quickly. It is difficult to know where to start. Well first there was the shot… ohh, the officer said we weren't supposed to even talk about it between ourselves… something about colluding our stories… Ellie, it wasn't a fun time."

Ellie simply nodded her head and just barely held back the urge to hug Sarah once more as she turned to look at Chuck who was just staring at Sarah with a goofy look on his face brought a smile back to the weary doctor's face, "All right little brother; while I'm sure Sarah did the best she could to make sure you're ok. I probably have enough time to offer a professional opinion." Ellie grabbed her brother's arm to Sarah's amusement and shushed him just as he could voice his protest, "Does anything hurt?"

Chuck unable to lie when Ellie used that particular motherly tone reluctantly and softly offered up, "I fell on my butt during the altercation, it is a little sore, but you are not looking at it."

"Chuck, you could have damaged your coccyx." Watching Chuck's embarrassment and flustered attempts to say anything amused the two watching him; to a point until Sarah hugged him. Ellie joined in the festivities without saying a word until Chuck began to feel embarrassed again. Ellie pulled away, "I was only talking about your tailbone and I will choose to take you at your word about that, but I will be keeping an eye out if you are still struggling with it. You need to sleep on your side tonight and take some acetaminophen when you get home. However, I still will take a look at the rest of you." Chuck acquiesced knowing the interim between their arrival to now had her worried about his well being. He was surprised they hadn't moved yet and found Ellie trying to catch Sarah's attention until finally she announced, "You're included in my rendering of a professional opinion, Sarah. There's at least one cut I see and I'm not going to let you get away with any excuses."

Sarah attempted a look to quell Ellie's determination; that seemed to only make the doctor more steadfast. She looked to Chuck for any help, but was rebuffed by his smirk. Sarah's shoulders dropped and simply fell in line as they made their way to the vacant ER station.

After the two were examined and allowed to escape with just the one cut as the only item garnering Ellie's attention. Chuck surprised Sarah when he said to his sister they were heading out east as Sarah's father needed her and she wanted to show him a few of the sites. Ellie surprised her as well by accepting this with a smile, it turned sad for a moment, but in spite of her little brother potentially being as far away as they probably ever have been in their entire lives. Sarah could glisten there were mixed emotions running through the scrub garbed woman, but she waved them both out after they agreed they would call as soon as they arrived and would take some pictures. Just as the two were about to pull the curtain open, Ellie informed them of the room number the man who came in with Jill was in. Sarah quickly thanked her and reiterated Ellie's demands of their trip before they headed to the elevator.

They recognized the plainclothes agent surreptitiously guarding his fellow agent and nodded his approval before they entered the room. The agent was in the bed with a laptop furiously typing away; his concentration was so focused Sarah gave a cough to signify he had visitors. The agent held up a finger and about fifteen seconds later he looked up, "Oh, Agents Walker and Carmichael; I just finished up the report and sent it along. Since the doctors all share the opinion I at least have a pre-concussive situation I figure I may as well get the paperwork out of the way. Don't worry; Webb deserved everything you threw at him." He stopped and gave a slow shake of his head, "We've been partners off and on for two years now and he's just gotten worse. I hope he chooses to hang 'em up after this; otherwise I have to officially put in for a new partner."

Hearing the name caused Sarah to blink in confusion, "Clayton Webb? He was a possibility for Director when it went to Graham. Was the blood that bad between them that he pushed him to the NSA?"

The agent launched into a long story that more than answered 'yes' to the two questions. He talked about his unexpected fall when a full review of his cases showed his success was largely due to two JAG lawyers. With his success rate drooping and blood alcohol rising, even his high powered connections abandoned him. This left him a choice to walk away, be stationed at a remote outpost in Australia, or take the only offer on the table, the NSA. Initially they worked quite well, but an op that went bad due to poor intel caused a shift and they were soon stationed in San Diego. He later discovered Webb had put in the transfer for the both of them to put him closer to those JAG lawyers, well one in particular who was gorgeous with dark hair and eyes. Chuck and Sarah were putting the pieces together as he told of the horrific Christmas reunion Webb plotted. The agent then spoke of similarities between the lawyers and the two spies in front of him. He ended with wishing that Roberts' first name was Sarah, than he knew he had to chain Webb to something to keep him away from her.

The two stood there speechless after that soliloquy, Chuck because he had checked out of the talk when the 'presents' were revealed and while Sarah could easily relate in terms of dealing with a bad partner; just the thought of briefly reliving the nightmare of her pairing with Larkin caused a slight opening in the box she deposited all of those memories. The agent repeated his apologies and his insistence his report did not contain the 'sad story of Clayton Webb'. After wishing the agent good luck on getting that new partner, they could see him open up his laptop to start on that request. After a look at the other they wordlessly agreed they needed to check on the Fulcrum operative before leaving.

Perhaps the one good thing about the long story was that it gave enough time for not only the surgery to be completed, but Jill had already left recovery and was in her room. The guard outside stepped aside to let them in, but Sarah shook her head and asked where her Doctor was. They found him at the nurse's station explaining how delicate his hands were when Sarah's sardonic laugh disrupted any headway the surgeon was making. The downside was it made him irritable and any answers needing more than one word a struggle. When Chuck took over as the proverbial good cop in this now interrogation, the surgeon's attitude changed and relayed she should have full usage of all her extremities, they did fuse the two damaged discs together, but once healed she should have no problems maintaining a full life, unless she was a stuntwoman or somebody whose occupation and/or hobbies caused stress on their back or neck.

Making it back down to the lobby of the ER, Sarah looked at her watch and showed it to Chuck rather than telling him. They headed to the car and headed back to the Bartowski apartment. After a brief discussion where Sarah was hoping for a nap that the two of them could both use, Chuck instead wanted to pack his things and just get out of LA for awhile. Sarah could easily understand that sentiment and helped decide his attire for the trip and said that while there she would set up an appointment for him with the CIA tailor who actually does the James Bond movie suits. The grin she knew she would get from that piece of information was its own reward; the quick thought of Chuck in a perfectly designed suit was an extra gift Sarah had no problem accepting. They both agreed running into Ellie again could be problematic as the 'panicked Sarah' could not have that long of a shelf life as a reliable avenue to keep Ellie from the truth.

The ride to Sarah's apartment gave Chuck another opportunity to look at her as she focused her concentration solely on the road and he could see she was running on fumes. The trip to her room was surprisingly silent which caused Sarah to look over at Chuck at least twice in the elevator wondering what he was thinking about. As soon as they entered the room Chuck headed for the mini-fridge and a quick look inside showed two bottles of water, three opened cartons of yogurt, and part of a sandwich that he would swear was the one he and Sarah split last week. He grabbed the two bottles and offered one to her before saying, "You have to get actual food in here."

Sarah gave a confused look as she couldn't even remember what was in there. A quick look for her and she brought out the wrapped sandwich. Not noticing Chuck shaking his head 'no' she opened the plastic and after a whiff she suddenly remembered where and when it had come from and placed that and the yogurt containers into the garbage can. She looked at Chuck still not quite understanding why he said what he did.

Chuck noticed her confusion, "Sarah, with our schedule being completely irregular… I mean I know Ellie always has something available if we have a day like today. I haven't eaten since breakfast… I cannot imagine when the last time you ate was. I can tell you are ready for some sleep, but how about this: I assume the NSA plane is on standby, right?" Sarah nodded, "There will be food on it?" Sarah shrugged her shoulders, "Ok, we stop off at some mini-mart and pick up some supplies and since we have to fly out there anyways, we can eat and then sleep while we lose three hours of time."

Sarah started to nod, but stopped and shook her head. "Chuck, while I don't think Beckman would be stupid enough to try something… but I don't want to risk being fully asleep. I don't really sleep on planes anyways, but I might be tired enough to right now and I can't risk anything happening to you."

"Ok, we'll get some sleep now, but then we need to eat. You aren't the only person here who gets to worry and cannot comprehend how to make it through a day without you..." Sarah lightly blushed, kissed Chuck on the cheek, wiped away the small lip gloss smear, kicked off her shoes and without pulling back the comforter plopped down on the bed face first. She was asleep by the time Chuck untied his first shoe. Chuckling to himself, he drank the rest of the water in his bottle, poured part of hers into a glass and put the remainder back in the mini-fridge. He then went into the bathroom, brushed his teeth using his finger. He silently crept back to the bed, turning off the remaining light via the night stand, wrapped the comforter around Sarah; knowing her predilection to the cold, and hoped he wasn't sending another mixed signal by placing an arm over the comforter.

They were able to get a few hours sleep, both waking at around a little after 0600. Chuck woke first and when he tried to extricate his arm from on top of the comforter he found it was tightly gripped. That slight jarring was enough to wake Sarah up and after a quick glimpse of her alarm clock was puzzled as to why after that short period of sleep she wasn't grumpy. The heat she felt surrounded by answered that question, but then she saw her left hand out of the toasty comforter 'burrito' the rest of her body was in and latched onto Chuck's right hand. The ensuing giggle confirmed to Chuck she was awake and asking for his hand back quickly found her rolling back onto him.

There was a different fire in Sarah's eyes and Chuck was in the midst of an Animal House moment where he was being offered two highly different plans of action; like Pinto, one shoulder called him a 'pussy' before disappearing. Sarah noted the shift of his body language and offered a confused look which caused Chuck to begin to ramble. The ramble confused them both until Chuck took a deep breath. After turning his head to release it, to Sarah's amusement, he turned back and gave Sarah a short kiss. The smile on her face almost made him forget what he needed to say to her. "I love you."

She went wide eyed and was certain her brain had stopped working; although everything he did clearly sent that message, just hearing it with such resolve and certainty left her brain unable to respond. Chuck saw the recognition of what he said play out in her eyes. Once he was assured she was ready for more he continued, "I feel like such an idiot. I wasted years because of what blah blah did to me," Sarah giggled and felt something else she couldn't identify at his remembering one of the things she called Roberts to specifically avoid using her name.

Chuck's face sobered knowing he was soon going to hurt her and that was the last thing he wanted. "When I compare the two of you it is laughable how much more you mean to me. However, this past year has hurt me with the mixed signals you would give me." Sarah's eyes conveyed the truth of his statement and the sadness she felt because of it, but Chuck cupped her chin and forced her to look into his eyes which were yearning to display understanding and not resentment. "Sarah, I know you did what you had to, both in a professional capacity and more so to protect something you did not think anybody could understand." Her now glassy eyes were matched by a smile. Chuck had to close his eyes, but remembering her admission to him forced him to reopen them.

"Now, somehow the roles seem reversed and I am the one sending the mixed signals and I can understand why you had to do it in the last year. Which is why I am trying to let you know what I think is the most important thing right off the bat. I love not just a part of you, but all of you. Part of me wants to extend this out physically, but I think it is important for us to wait." Chuck saw the storm beginning to brew in Sarah's eyes and realized there was a finite amount of time for him to try and speak his point of view before she cut him off. "Last night I had a dream that we were in your shower this morning." Sarah calmed as she nodded her head with a little smile that gave Chuck the inclination she may have had one that was initially similar. "In the midst, you had a panic attack because something reminded you of Bryce." Sarah's eyes went cold and as Chuck tried to continue, her hand covered his mouth. Knowing a physical response to her action was the absolute last thing he wanted; it would be undoubtedly unsuccessful and if there was any harm to either the shame would fester into something that could easily derail them, possibly forever.

Chuck closed his eyes and hoped this would work as the moment he opened them he also opened his mouth and licked her palm. Sarah quickly pulled her hand away and wiped it on the comforter while looking at Chuck with a puzzled look. He shrugged his shoulder, but quickly chose to begin talking again, "I am not comparing myself to him. I used to think after what he did to me I couldn't dislike anybody as much as him. From hearing what he did to you I hate that he is even breathing." Seeing concern now dominate her expression Chuck continued, "This isn't a part of losing my humanity, but knowing someone you cherish has been brutalized and I'm fairly certain you haven't told me the worst parts… have you?"

Sarah did not want to tell the truth thinking that Chuck would conclude she was just keeping things from him. Her obvious indecision on what to say made him continue, "Sarah, I am never going to ask you to talk about that, unless you need me to. However you probably should talk about it with somebody; I'm not suggesting a CIA shrink. Maybe we can find somebody together and after the procedure…"

Sarah had listened intently and was not judging Chuck until the last words came out, "Are you trying to say there won't be anything physical until I have had my procedure. You won't have sex with me unless I have a vagina… What if something happens or if there is a problem that won't allow the surgery to take place? At least give me the real reason Chuck; I deserve that much."

Chuck was flummoxed and was searching for something to calm her, when he realized that may just simply delay the items she brought up that he didn't know how to answer. "Sarah, I don't know why you want to hear the answer that you seemingly want me to give. If you are asking if I am ready right now to have a sexual relationship with you the answer is no."

Without allowing Chuck to say anything else Sarah rushed to the bathroom and locked the door. She heard the soft knock and call to her which she answered with the sound of the shower. The almost scalding water was a wake-up call; not only did eliminate all sense of tiredness from her it also forced her brain to emotionlessly parse through what Chuck had actually said and not read underlying meanings in it. Since they met whatever manipulations he may have attempted, they were done as a means to get to know more about her or to find what the feelings were that she actually had for him. 'Mixed messages' could be a massive understatement. She went back to one of the first things he said this morning about loving all and not just a part of her. She began to berate herself for not giving him the opportunity to explain and although last night she didn't dream of them being in the shower together, in fact for the first time in a while she did not recall having any dreams. She began to think what if something like that happened because in her dreams it was always perfection and how often did that happen in real life. He also had said 'we' in seeing somebody and not just her; he wasn't placing the blame solely on her. Despite how much that last statement hurt her, how did it compare to hearing there was nothing between them while under truth serum. She went through the remainder of her morning ritual trying not to think of what was waiting on the other side of the door.

When Sarah finished it took her the third time before she completely opened the door, unsure if they were nerves, or afraid if Chuck was now angry. The last thing she expected when opening the door was not finding him on the bed… panic immediately set in, thinking she had finally broken him enough to push him completely away. A despondent, "Chuck," left her mouth as she slowly made her way to the bed.

A few steps in she heard a muted, "Sarah," come from behind the door. Apparently Chuck didn't move from the area after knocking on the door. After helping him up, his comment about perhaps being closer to Bryce on the bastard scale than she previously thought was met with a stiff punch to his arm and dragging him back to the bed.

"I can't risk losing you," broke the interminable silence.

At first Sarah didn't respond, because she was sure she had said that; until she saw Chuck begin to pale waiting for an answer, "I'm sorry I was thinking that same thing and I thought I must have said it."

The relief washed over Chuck's face momentarily, "The last thing I want to do is hurt or disappoint you, because even though for some reason you don't think you have. You have done so much for me Sarah Walker. I'd really like to know your opinion on the matter; if I'm wrong say so and why. It may change my mind or may not, but all I can do is promise to listen intently on whatever you have to say."

Even though Chuck's look offered an initial comfort to Sarah, it soon turned into a smothering as she was trying to put together all the thoughts racing through her mind. She let go of Chuck's hand and got off the bed. Now standing Sarah turned around and with her eyes closed took a deep breath and had a small smile on her face s she opened her eyes once more. Chuck's mind immediately went to worst case option scenarios, until he saw the smile. If it was one of her 'I'm gonna so kick your ass right now' ones he would have put himself into the 'Morgan' and prayed the move was so unconventional it would give her pause. Instead it was the one where he would make sure she had a chocolate croissant when he assumed she would have had a really bad night.

"I'm not good at talking; and then about my actual emotions… I want to disagree with you, but you may be right. I would hate myself, if I hurt you and although I don't think I would ever do it…" Chuck tried to get off the bed, but Sarah signaled him to stay down. She took another deep breath and sighed, "If you are saying you don't want any physical contact with me, I can't do that." She afforded a glance to Chuck whose head was shaking and eyes silently begging to retort on that comment; Sarah gave another smile to that and shook her head once, "Ok, so you are talking solely about sex?" She saw Chuck give a single nod, "Where is the limit? I like just sleeping with you…"

Chuck could see the emotion begin to seep through and gave her a moment to see if she would continue. When he thought she couldn't he got up and cautiously wrapped his arms around her, "I also like just sleeping with you as well. However, I think 'just' isn't an apt word to describe it. I feel content and happy waking up and seeing you next to me. Do you want to go to the hospital or to DC? Regardless, I think we both need to get something to eat."

Sarah nodded and looked up into Chuck's face, "Sleeping with you makes me feel safe, part of it is in knowing that you are safe, but I also feel safe because you are there."

Sarah's stomach loudly grumbled as she finished and they both couldn't hold back the laugh. She pulled away from him and took out a t-shirt, jeans, socks, and underwear handed them to him and motioned him to the bathroom. He went in and prepared for the day and came out to find her finishing packing a standard travel-sized bag.

Sarah turned and said, "Chuck it is up to you, if you want to check in and see her progress. We will do that and stay as long as you want, but you do have to feed me first."

Chuck studied her for a second and knew she meant every word of that, "Thank you Sarah, let's get some breakfast, head over to my place, get me packed, and we can call to check on her before getting on the plane."

Sarah looked to make sure he wasn't placating her by doing this because of the phone call yesterday. Although there was something that he seemed to be holding back on, but he was sincere in what he said. She nodded her assent to the plan, zipped her bag and made a quick trip to the bathroom coming out with two plastic bags with various items. They left Maison 23 and took off on her porch to a little diner they went to after the morning on the beach.

They took the time at the diner to start to decompress knowing that being in DC would not afford them the time to do so. Chuck could tell Sarah was still tired as her second refill of coffee she took with a minimum of sugar and cream. They found the apartment devoid of other people, which came as a belated relief to both of them. Chuck wrote a note to Ellie while Sarah grabbed the items in his closet that were versatile enough to handle different scenarios. Chuck grabbed his bathroom essentials and hopped back in the Porsche.

He was a little surprised as they stopped at the OO, as they made their way down Sarah explained she needed to pick up a few tools. One of them being a tranq pistol; Chuck tensed and gave a subtle shake of his head as he saw Sarah pack it. Sarah looked over the cover story letter from Buy More and sent it over for Big Mike to find it when he comes waltzing in, in a few hours. She looked over to find Chuck reading a piece of paper and promptly put it down when he noticed Sarah looking at him. He rushed over and started them up the stairs asking if she was going to leave her Porsche at the airport long-term parking. That took her mind off the piece of paper momentarily as she stated there was a place at the airport where she kept her baby where it would be well taken care of.

Chuck was astounded by the underground facility beneath the airport where they pulled in. Sarah had to take a minute to make sure the workers knew she has the mileage memorized and there are no scratches on her 'baby' and the hell they would go to would be a relief after what she would put them through. Chuck could hear a part of it and seeing the three men who could easily be mistaken for WWE wrestlers pale at her brought a knowing smile on his face. It was still there when she exited the small office and gave a push to his shoulder as she walked past him and grabbed the bag from Castle. She looked for hers and turned around to see Chuck carrying hers. They shared a look where she asked for it back and Chuck declined. Sarah shrugged her shoulders and made her way to the stairwell that led out to the private tarmac their plane was at.

Boarding the plane; purposefully Sarah made the call to Beckman wanting to keep it short. The General still left them in the dark as to why they needed to come out to DC, but did say it should just be two to three days. The two settled in with Chuck choosing the couch in the back and embarrassed Sarah a little as he patted the place next to him for her to sit. Sarah was a little relieved in there was only the pilot and co-pilot and not a steward. Granted it took a little time as the co-pilot explained the features of the plane and where the drinks and snacks were kept. After seeing where Chuck chose to sit, Sarah asked for a blanket. Thankfully the co-pilot chose not to even raise an eyebrow at the suggestion this could entail and upon handing it to her he explained the current weather patterns and approximate time of arrival. Sarah nodded and the co-pilot checked the exits and went into the cockpit. Hearing the click and lock of the door and feeling the Gulfstream G280 begin to move Sarah relaxed for a moment and looked over to Chuck who was unsuccessfully trying to hide his tension.

"Is it flying in general, the small aircraft or something else?"

Chuck looked over opened his mouth, but closed it with the only noise a small pop from his lips colliding. Sarah grabbed his hand and he did relax a little. "No, it's nothing about the flight… although now that you mention it…" Sarah shushed him by grabbing his lips and couldn't stop the giggle as he continued on for a few seconds after she had firmly stopped his communication from being intelligible. The huff was the key to Sarah releasing his mouth and Chuck took a second before quietly stating, "I almost killed her."

Sarah sighed, as her emotions were torn. She knew Chuck needed to let this undeserved guilt fully out, but she thought the best way was to share another story that she had only shared with one person, not even Graham knew the full extent; only what was in the report she produced, along with a copy of the autopsy. She nodded and since she could see they were in a waiting pattern to take off; grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around the both of them as she leaned into Chuck.

"Chuck, I'm guessing you have never heard of a Red Test, but it is, in essence, the final exam for the majority of the spies out there. The objective is to kill the target, who presumably has no knowledge that they have basically had a hit placed on them. I hope this doesn't change how you feel…"

"Diane, I beseech you; turn this off." The pleading look showed a sincerity the General had not seen in quite some time. Hearing the click he opened his eyes and despite completely understanding why he would do so felt something kick in her heart as he moved behind her to ensure the video footage was curtailed as well. The two shared an uncomfortable look that was ended by Roan clearing his throat. "I think I'll check on the Major and make sure he doesn't do too much damage to the former 'CIA Golden Boy'. Casey probably would have let it go until Webb called him a 'brutish oaf'."

The General nodded her agreement and Agent Montgomery held a look of sadness for a second before covering it up and walking to the door. He turned around and had a slightly pained look as he opened his mouth, but Beckman beat him to it by asking, "Do you think you can make a reservation at that café on H Street in about ninety minutes?" She offered a smile with that and it seemed to relax Roan a little.

"Of course, my General," he offered a smile back; turned and left.

The General took a deep breath and started on some paperwork for a few minutes, before turning to a briefing about a potential op. She wrote in the immediate problems in needing more reliable intel and offered a different tact. Placing that in her out bin she buzzed her secretary who quickly entered without a word offered a manila folder while taking her filled exit bin. A quick scan of the folder showed nothing urgent so she placed it back on her desk. This left her to stare at her computer monitor and while she did not have an interest per se in the details of Walker's Red Test; she was curious for some reason to see Chuck's reaction to it. After audibly uttering a curse at herself she opened the feed back up. What she found told her volumes, Chuck lying on the couch, Sarah on top of him with his hands wrapped around her on top of the blanket covering the majority of their bodies.

The peaceful looks on their faces is what the General could only concentrate on. For a moment she was back in a time and place she never wanted to revisit. The morning after the Berlin Wall came down. She knew it to be a watershed moment as she stared down at a sleeping Roan who had a similar look that Bartowski now sported. Beckman knew if there was ever a time and person to let down her walls that it was here and now. She was running an internal debate and when the side of sharing something 'real' with Roan won out she found her mouth saying, "Danka" to a cab driver in front of the Tegel Airport. The General buzzed her secretary to hold all calls as she took a moment to do what the young Diane did not allow herself to do, and she began to cry at what she could see what she lost that morning.

 _ **A/N: Holy Kleenex, Batman! I pretty much had every character in this chapter crying for one reason or another. Thanks for reading. I realize this chapter was long as well, but I hope it maintained your interest throughout. For those unfamiliar with JAG, I apologize for that off ramp I readily took. Clayton Webb could arguably be considered the Bryce Larkin of that show: he'd sporadically come in with a mission that should by all accounts leave them dead and exits with all characters irritated by him. Yet despite this the next time he is back they follow the same routine, also the two if them never seem to stay dead. I heavily edited the agent's telling of 'The Sad Story of Clayton Webb' as I have no idea if there are any Chuck fans who would also be interested in JAG. For those who are fans of JAG, I kept that portion of the story and if you want I can PM it to you. Just let me know you need to know what happened to Webb? Thanks again for giving me the reason to keep this story going.**_


	12. Chapter 12

_**A/N: Doing my best to keep up with this and now we enter the stretch run for this story. I wish I could give you the # of chapters left before it is complete, but I've seemed to have gone back to my more expansive style which may cause a few more chapters than originally thought. The majority of the pieces are just about in place. I highly doubt this chapter will come close to either of the last two in terms of length, but who knows what I may find to expand upon. Thanks to those still reading and reviewing. I ended the last chapter with an event most would scoff at as impossible (Beckman crying); I'll begin this one with something that should be somewhat familiar to all Chuck fans.**_

 **Chapter 12**

The sun was about fifteen minutes away from setting while he sat in his jeep in the apartment complex parking lot. Even though he hadn't yet seen the person he needed to, in both a professional and personal sense, arrive. He did notice the other person he needed to see, in strictly a personal sense, show up with what he would presume to be her fiancée. The man was caught, not knowing how he could possibly explain his past actions, or if he should even try to. He noticed a blind quickly open and shut for the second time and not wanting to bring the police into this situation he chose to bite the bullet, opened the door, and climbed out of the jeep.

Despite reading the note that confirmed Chuck was heading out east with Sarah for an undetermined amount of time; Chuck guessed a week, and Sarah wrote at the bottom she was hoping only four or five days. This caused a 'how cute are they' squeal and even though the apartment was to themselves; Ellie insisted due to a female intuition she wanted to shower alone. Devon started to parse through the refrigerator and put together the makings of a decent dinner. He came up with salmon almondine with wild rice and had just placed the fillets in the oven and was all set to start to cook the mushrooms when there was a knock on the door. Devon was awestruck as he recognized the figure in the doorway from the few photos Ellie would show of her youth.

The man shuffled from one foot to another and Devon made a quick diagnosis of perhaps Asperger's syndrome from his movements and manner. Devon quickly apologized and invited him in, much to the man's surprise. Once inside he appeared to relax as he put out his hand to Devon, "My name is Steven Bartowski; I'm Eleanor's father."

Devon nodded, "My name is Devon and I am Ellie's fiancée. Is she expecting you? Not that you aren't totally welcome, but neither she nor Chuck mentioned anything about getting in touch with you; let alone your arrival."

"Uhh, no; I did get a letter from Chuck stating I needed to do this for Ellie and I agree; especially if that is what she wants. I would do anything I could for them, but I know they must be furious at me for what I did. There is a reason, but I still can't…"

Devon could see how skittish Steven was getting and having no clue how Ellie is going to react he needed to calm her father down. Steven stopped talking as he felt Devon's hand grasp his shoulders and both assure him Ellie did want this, but had no idea what her initial response to his showing up out of the blue would be. Steven allowed his façade to be one of growing understanding, but inside he was ecstatic that Ellie had found somebody who was truly sincere and understood her. Granted he had done an extensive background check once Devon had become an integral part of his children's lives and he was dubious at first at how spotless it appeared, but the first face to face impression was an awfully good one.

Devon offered Steven a drink, which he declined and then stated he was just fixing dinner when Steven knocked and needed to get back into the kitchen to finish. Steven offered to help and Devon had an image of the Spaghetti-O's surprise, Ellie and Chuck had mentioned when somehow the conversation went to childhood eating; Devon politely declined and said he was welcome to wait in the living room and that there was more than enough for three. Steven instead asked if he could watch and followed him in to watch Devon preparing dinner. His look of study, along with asking a few general and specific questions until everything was baking or simmering kept it from becoming awkward. Devon opened the refrigerator door and grabbed a beer, he looked to Steven who nodded and took the beer now offered to him. The shower then turned off and after a few minutes the door opened. Devon quickly stated, "Ell, we have a visitor."

They both were a little surprised by the laugh that came out, "Babe, if that is another euphemism for your 'awesome stick' I need to eat first and what are you making that smells so good?"

Ellie turned the corner into the kitchen and smiled at Devon. When she realized he wasn't kidding about a visitor she stammered out an "I'm sorry." Until her brain focused on just who the person was and one word formed her vocabulary for the next four hours, "Pancakes?"

Devon merely raised an eyebrow, but Steven completely understood, but couldn't hold back his first thought, "Oh boy."

When the plane landed and after Chuck successfully coaxed a sleeping Sarah Walker awake without any bodily harm he felt a tinge of trepidation. Chuck had no idea what the itinerary consisted of, or where they were even staying? A hotel room, safe house, or some protective custody room at an undisclosed location were the choices that popped into his head. The choices seemed to appear in diminishing order of preference, but seemingly more probable in terms of his reality. The driver who was there when the plane taxied in was having a somewhat heated discussion with Sarah, who would every so often look back at Chuck. Gathering that as a clue she wanted to keep him close he grabbed the three bags and walked over to them. The next time she looked, Chuck could see the hint of panic until she moved her head to find him and she chuckled as he offered a wave. She walked over to him and gave a quick hug before, in her words, a soft tap to his shoulder. The driver took out his phone while Sarah was turned, but she caught the tail end of the conversation and grabbed the phone. After discussing with the person on the other end for a moment, Sarah took out her phone and shook her head. Sarah reluctantly agreed with the person on the phone and motioned for Chuck to go into the back. The driver offered to take the bags, but Sarah insisted they were fine with them.

Sarah locked the partition in place while in the up position and Chuck simply sat quietly by, literally almost biting his tongue to keep from asking the questions that popped into his head. Nearing the twenty minute mark of the drive Sarah could tell Chuck was bursting and she patted his leg which did calm him, to a point. She gave a reassuring smile to Chuck before pulling a small device out of her bag and waving it around their area. The device gave off a tiny beep as it hit the mini-bar, it honed onto a single glass. Sarah picked it up and after giving it a quick once over opened the window and tossed the glass out.

Sarah took a quick look through the tinted window and offered a small grunt before turning to Chuck and spoke, her tone between a whisper and her normal tone, "I was hoping to stay at a condo Carina and I have just outside of DC. It is a two bedroom, two and a half bath; each bedroom has a full bath in it. It's a place we got just to allow us to crash between missions. We've only come across one another once since we got this after the CATS broke up. Obviously I wanted to go there since that gave us more options." Sarah paused as she allowed for Chuck to understand all she was inferring. When he gave a quick nod, she continued, "I forgot that Carina a year ago asked if we could add a third person. I reluctantly agreed; figuring it lowered the monthly association fee and the likelihood of running into her would be small. One of the caveats Carina and I had agreed on was now if somebody is there we have to send a text to the other two. Before, with just the two of us we each had picked out our own room. Now there was the possibility of having three women with only two bedrooms. On the tarmac I got a text that Zondra was in town." Chuck frowned slightly at the remembrance of the name. "I didn't want to put you in the middle of our ignoring one another. It would compel you to try and fix it. So I agreed to Beckman putting us up at the Courtyard which is right next to Quantico where Beckman and Casey are at."

Chuck nodded his head and bit his bottom lip before asking the first question, "I can understand wanting to stay at a place familiar and I'll assume bug free where you can relax." He placed his hand on her shoulder and Sarah's head inclined towards the warmth it provided without a thought.

"Beckman also gave me an idea of why she wanted us here. They have been trying to go through Graham's files and although they have found a large portion there are still a few files whether physical or on his computer they have yet to locate. One of my complaints is that to get to Graham's and Langley, where I am expected to check in with his replacement while in town, is that we have to backtrack an hour back North. Right now we're at the whim of Beckman being able to control where we can go and I'm…"

"Not entirely comfortable with having anybody control you? Especially somebody with whom we are having trust issues with." Chuck quickly offered to Sarah's chuckle.

"Fine, but there were also a few places I wanted to show you while we are here. I didn't even realize it until we landed… this little bakery that has great coffee and the first place I had a chocolate croissant, a Korean barbecue restaurant that is amazing… The problem is even if we sneak off after the assignment, they'll probably have somebody tailing us; and since the condo is off book..."

"Not only would you be telling them where you could go in an emergency, you're also outing Carina and Zondra." Sarah's face faltered for a second at the mention, but she lowered her head so that Chuck's hand was now pressed between her shoulder and now smiling face. It took a minute or so for Chuck's brain to focus on anything besides the sight in front of him. However, an idea did pop into his head, "When we complete the assignment and there is time, we can try to evade them. Worse comes to worse we don't go to the condo and besides I suspect there are probably a few places a first time visitor to the capital would be interested in."

He felt Sarah nod her head and they stayed in that position until the car pulled into the hotel parking lot. Once the car stopped a few moments passed before they heard a knocking on the door. Sarah opened it as the driver explained the partition was also a sound dampener and in the locked position they could not hear him knock. The phone is set for emergency purposes only; an SOC unit is deployed as soon as it is activated. Chuck started to apologize, but the driver waved it off before he got started. The driver stated they made decent time so they had a little over an hour to check-in and 'refresh' before they were expected at the base for lunch. After being asked if he was their driver while they were here, he stated that he didn't think so because usually they told him if he was on an assignment that was more than a pick-up. They both thanked him and went inside and despite a snafu that had their two rooms initially three floors apart; it was soon upgraded to an executive suite and Sarah changed the card that would pay the bill.

After a sweep and finding it clear Sarah explained the initial setup and that the reservations were specifically placed by a Mr. Casey. At that a smirk came over Sarah's face and at Chuck's look she shared that she changed it so that instead of the NSA picking up the tab it will be Casey himself. She said that she trusted Chuck to not tell Casey about this. Her look was far more amused than her voice would suggest, but Chuck told himself it would be preferable to see the look on Casey's face when he got his credit card bill. That thought neutralized his smile as he wasn't sure whether Casey was going to continue with them. The majority of him wanted Casey as he had saved his life more than once, but he had also been in the position of taking it. Sarah saw the conflict in Chuck and simply placed her hand on top of his as she had a good idea bringing up the Major's name brought up the unresolved conflict and hoped that bastard took Chuck's provision seriously.

Chuck broke the silence in hoping they had a decent room service and well stocked wine cellar. Sarah laughed and scoffed saying she had a doubt about either as she had noticed the small restaurant and would hazard a guess Marines and their families were not the high brow snobbish type, but they would test it. The two took their time getting ready as both changed into more appropriate clothes. Chuck had convinced Sarah that opting for comfort, instead of dressing up for the flight made sense as they didn't have to impress anybody and after both spent the majority of the flight in much needed sleep it turned out to be prescient. Sarah went with a conservative dress, but chose to bring a bag with a more conventional 'spy' outfit in case there was something to be addressed right away. Chuck had a button down shirt along with casual slacks.

They met the driver in the lobby as he had eaten his lunch in the hotel restaurant. He informed them he had contacted his boss to confirm his assignment and that he was only scheduled to bring them to the headquarters. Sarah left the divider down as it was a short trip and ten minutes later they were at the gate. They were required to step out to pick up their ID's which they were told was necessary to enter the building. The driver dropped them off in front of the building and wished them luck on their business before he took off for the motor pool.

Chuck was slightly surprised at the complete lack of verbal communication as Sarah placed her ID down at the first desk they came across. The person took a look, nodded, and pushed a button. A female stepped out of a door previously unnoticeable in the back wall. She made a motion and Sarah grabbed her ID and walked towards the opening. Chuck followed and wondered how long it would be before somebody spoke a sentence. When they stopped at a desk in front of an office, Chuck took a glimpse and somehow knew this person worked for the General; the harried look gave it away. The longing for hearing a sentence left as he went through the mental process of psyching himself up for meeting the General in person for the first time and offered a prayer he wouldn't make a fool of himself. Sarah took a glance back and squeezed his hand bringing him back as she led them to a few chairs the assistant motioned them towards.

The sound of the door opening snapped the pair's attention to it. Seeing the Major look at them warmly, upped their optimism until his focus centered on something which changed his smile to a smirk as the two stood. Realizing their hands were intertwined Chuck looked to Sarah who shrugged her shoulders as she tugged him along into the office. Chuck reflexively smiled at seeing Roan's smiling face. He went back to neutral as he turned to see the General looking at him with a look he couldn't identify. Chuck sat down and was flabbergasted as Diane Beckman was the person to break the silence by asking how their flight was. Chuck took this as the opportunity to start talking and so he did with his usual gusto; explaining the comfort of the flight, that the hotel was a nice upgrade from the cement block room he had been anticipating, and ending with hoping since this is the first time he has been in DC there may be some time to see a few sights.

While Casey and the General rolled their eyes, she did state that if they were able to come up with the information quickly there would probably be time to see some things. Roan however caught a glance between Chuck and Sarah that led him to believe Chuck had set the General up; most likely to ensure more unobserved alone time with Miss Walker. That led him to finish off the remainder of his drink and get up from his chair and he felt four pairs of eyes gaze upon him. His face showed more than a hint of glee as they were all shocked he had grabbed a bottled water.

"There is the possibility my body may reject water by itself... So shall we discuss business or head to lunch Di… General?"

Beckman gave a scolding glare to which Roan immediately accepted nodding that it was his mistake and he would not do so again. She then spoke, "I think we should let them know why they are here and then we can have lunch." She turned to face Chuck and Sarah, "Chuck, first you are owed an apology." Chuck's mouth dropped, Sarah's wasn't too far behind, Casey couldn't look up as a pang of guilt hit him, and Roan looked at his General proudly. "There is a way that we conduct business that is abhorrent when looked upon from unknowing eyes. That being said I should have questioned Graham's insistence on your 'retirement from service'. I am not throwing him under the bus as I readily agreed that with the Intersect uploaded to a number of agents your value to us would be negligible; however your value to Fulcrum and others would actually grow in order to keep up. Even putting you through WITSEC you still would be susceptible to anyone catching a flash and putting it on YouTube or Facebook. A full-time protection detail for an asset that has no projected future use is not an efficient use of manpower and from one of the first reports from both Walker and Casey they concurred; throwing you in a hole with no potential of release was a more cruel fate than death." The General stopped as she could feel the emotions begin to rise within the room as she had said a lot in a short time.

Sarah had forgotten about the initial personality profile assessment and hearing that it suddenly clicked why Casey had no indecision about her going after Chuck before Longshore took him to Points Unknown. He realized early on that 'sentence' would only cause damage to Chuck and she could understand a little more and start to actually forgive him. Given, in his mind, that binary approach; Chuck would be better off dead rather than a cage. If she were given those options her choice would be easier than Casey's had been: the two would disappear and woe be onto any jackass that dared to trail them. She posed a look to Casey and despite his looking at the ground could see guilt still laced within the features of his face. A sigh escaped her lips and she forced herself to look at Chuck, unsure as to what would be going through his mind and the stillness and calm almost unnerved her. She couldn't stop herself from asking, "Chuck, are you ok?" The question was on the tip of both Beckman and Roan's tongues, but they both knew there was only one person in the room who could ask that question and get a legitimate response.

"I am… I am Sarah; well while I can understand some of the reasoning and can understand if given the sole choice of a bunker or a bullet…" If Chuck hadn't stopped at that point, Sarah would have clamped her hand over his mouth. When she garnered the courage to look at him once more, he was staring at her and realized he had stopped because of her. He couldn't help but smile seeing the gratefulness in her eyes, but then he saw her brows furrow as she mouthed 'negligible'. Seeing the ire rise, Chuck chose to open his mouth and shocked everyone in the room including himself when he said, "Not to sound like too much of a jerk, but saying you would kill me because I have negligible value doesn't sound like much of an apology to me."

The room grew completely quiet, the second hand on the wall clock refused to move, let it risk ending the silence. Until a full on belly laugh filled the room followed by, "You're absolutely right. I hadn't gotten to the apology yet. I just wanted to make sure I hadn't lost anybody before continuing. Another thing you need to know; well you probably do now, in terms of the greater good; the individual is virtually worthless. In a trade off; do you save one when it puts a million at risk? If you don't take the million at best you're fired, at worst the debate about the bunker or bullet is now about you. If you dwell upon the individual you're spending more time on the NSI shrink's couch then in your office. My apology to you is this; I should not have been so easily convinced. You were and are worth the time to go over the studies that we have found at Graham's place regarding testing on the Intersect. I took somebody else's word without doing the due diligence and for that I am sorry and if it makes a difference the studies would have made me strenuously object to the original choice that was made."

The General looked over to Chuck waiting to see his reaction. She also kept a wary eye on Walker as she could probably eliminate the three of them in almost a blink of an eye. She undoubtedly had a set of carbon fiber knives hidden that neither the pat down nor metal detector caught. She could also see while Chuck was still not thrilled at the assessment the fact that there was something out there that signified he had some worth allowed him to offer something less than a smile as he said, "Your apology is accepted." He then offered a look to Sarah to note her reaction which was just a simple nod and with that the pressure in the room lessened considerably.

"What studies?" Was soon uttered simultaneously from Chuck, Sarah, and Casey, whose head was no longer parallel to the floor.

"This project goes much further back than I was made aware. A team of three scientists back in the Eighties took the project into realms that our best minds today are still stumped by in trying to recreate it. The three are only identified by code names and their team fell apart from two separate acts. The first was when one whose code name was Fletch wanted to take certain aspects into the marketplace. He obtained patents on some of the items before he was discovered and somehow made a deal that didn't end up with him liquidated. Just before Fletch was discovered, something titled Project X came along. Trying to unearth info on this led to a D-1 warning," Chuck noticed Casey paled when the D-1 warning was mentioned, but the General continued before Chuck could ask, "The one code named Barin volunteered with the other, Orion argued against this. From what we were able to find this was the first practical utilization of the Intersect, but it was implanting an identity instead of information. Barin's handler was one of the top agent's whose code name was Frost. All four have no record in any database we have uncovered…" Beckman paused hoping that any one of the code names would trigger a flash. After a minute of silence Sarah and Casey eventually figured on what the General was waiting for.

"I was hoping you had some info as finding any one of the three could help with our understanding. One of the files we found on Graham's desk stated there is more than information in the Intersect; you should be able to manipulate any computer lock. There was also a page which stated skills could be added, namely self-defense, deciphering and speaking any language. From Chuck's field experience it should be safe to presume none of these skills were incorporated in your version. The latest version is to have a number of these added, but we also found a number of simulation studies that stated the additional workload on the brain can result in many negative effects; namely epileptic type seizures, hallucinations, loss of reality, stroke, and even death. The study suggested perhaps one in a million would be able to handle it without initial insanity or death. The original team stated the usage should be limited to six months with followed by six months off."

Everybody in the room save two stopped listening to the General took a quick look at Chuck with different looks of admiration, "Chuck this is the second apology I have…"

"Get it out of him, now." The room grew a chill and despite the words came out hardly above a whisper everybody could clearly hear them and understood what non-compliance would collect.

Beckman swallowed and startled everybody with, "Sarah; that is one of the items we hope to find with unearthing Graham's secrets. Orion's objections were based upon not having finished creating the extraction device. Fletch insisted on entering a doomsday code within the program in which the cover should 'disappear' within six months. That did not happen and soon after Fletch and Orion were gone; one into the ethos and the other becoming a rogue legend."

Chuck looked over to Sarah as if to object, but with a look of steel grasped his hand and intertwined their fingers. She looked down at their hands and looked at Chuck forcing him to look at their hands. He sighed as one of his greatest fears was destroyed; if he no longer had the Intersect would she stay. The other three had differing views: Roan was pleased, as he sensed from first meeting them soberly separate they each could be impressive; together they could be a force. Casey was mostly uncomfortable; he held no grudge against either of them and in fact hoped they would get their collective heads out of their asses as long as they kept it out of the missions. Beckman felt herself reflecting back to that morning long ago in Berlin and offered a sad look to Roan, but quickly covered it with her stoic façade.

"Chuck and I will go into Graham's house by ourselves. Casey can be our cover in case another faction wants to see what they can find."

Nobody said a word until the General cleared her throat and uttered an agreement and ordered Casey to grab a car. The General gave a stare to Sarah who returned it equally with Beckman finally nodding an unspoken approval. As the two got up to leave; the General told them she expected them to turn over all the Intersect information they uncover; CIA business, unless it contradicted national security, she had no interest in. Sarah nodded and the door closed behind them.

"Why did you add that last part?" Roan asked.

"As curious as I am to know what Graham held over her…? In the end I think having Sarah walker as an ally, rather than an enemy is more important than whatever it is." She wasn't surprised by the smile Roan had, but the effect on her did force her to turn her head from the blush.

Neither Chuck nor Sarah could tell if it was the same car or not, but thanks to the lecherous look Casey gave this time they kept the divider open. Thirty minutes into the drive when Casey determined they were going to leave the divider down, he solemnly spoke, "Chuck, once again, I know…"

"Case, a week in a bunker would have been worse."

"Chuck, I think you underestimate yourself. Bravery isn't a lack of fear, it's acting despite it. Don't let anybody sell you short; ever." There was a slight pause before a slightly choked up Casey continued, "I believe I owe you a secret, and since I cannot imagine you would have the capability of keeping it from Walker she may as well hear it first-hand. My real name is not John Casey, it is Alex Coburn."

The flash happened quickly as Sarah held onto him with one arm while the other massaged his temples. An appreciative murmur filled the auto which was followed by a Casey laugh and then silence again as Chuck took a sip of water. Casey looked back in the rear view mirror and saw Chuck was still processing something which left Casey confused about what his moronic former self had done.

"Casey; first thanks for telling me this and I do trust you again… but maybe we need to come up with a plan just in case…"

"Chuck, I don't think the General hid anything from you, but after seeing that report her opinion of you has changed. I don't think having Roan around hurts your case either, but yeah… we should come up with a contingency plan. Just because Beckman will do what she can, there are always other assholes out there."

"Like the D-1?"

Casey gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white. He responded, "Chuck, check the security before mentioning that again." He looked to Sarah who shrugged, but looked somewhat concerned.

"Casey, I know you're kind of on edge now, but there was something in your file. Do you want to wait until we get to Graham's before telling you or do you want to know now?"

John contemplated it for a second and postulating that if it weren't a big deal he would have blabbed it out anyway and now kicking himself that he should have waited until he had made sure there weren't any secondary surveillance devices before spilling his secret he let out an annoyed grunt, "Tell me when we get to Graham's. I shouldn't have told you the secret until we got there anyways."

Pulling into the driveway Chuck was surprised by how nondescript the house was; a look to Sarah got the response of 'he was a spy through and through'. Sarah having been there easily guided them through the front door without setting off one of the three alarms. Casey grunted his approval and they made it to his den which still showed the stereotypical file cabinet and desk drawers overturned on the ground with papers strewn everywhere. Sarah closed her eyes and took a deep breath while Casey muttered, 'morons' to nobody in particular. Chuck seemed a little unaware of his surroundings and moved a few papers off a chair and sat down. This quickly caught Sarah's eye and at her inquiry he agreed to a glass of water or juice and she took off for the kitchen.

Chuck quickly looked to Casey and motioned for him to sit. Slightly dumbfounded at the successful subterfuge he silently sat and waited as Chuck took a deep breath before speaking, "Casey I wanted to tell you first and I'm glad you are sitting. You are a father. You have a daughter named Alex; the last report is that she is in college in LA."

Sarah arrived shortly with the glass of water and looked at Chuck questioningly as he promptly handed it over to Casey who finished it in one gulp then got up mumbling to himself about Scotch.

 _ **A/N: This is not where I planned to finish this chapter, but to save on some possible heart palpitations I will do so. I am somewhat caught as I have had the ending set before I finished the first chapter So, of course I now decide to bring up future things that I initially did not think to resolve, but I kind of want to. It should not lengthen the story tremendously; while my Team Bartowski may not measure up to one concocted by Neale. It should be formidable. Thanks to those who are following or just stumbled upon this story. Reviews are always appreciated even if they are negative, and this story has had its fair share, but I knew this would not please everybody.**_


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/N: Never thought I'd get a story to a Chapter 13, but here we are. I attempted to edit a 'Guest' review and add my response, but it did not work. I have no problem with those that do not like the story and at least if they tell me why, it is something that I can think about. Thanks to those who do keep on reading and review.**_

 **Chapter 13**

"Chuck; is Case… Alex… he going to be alright?" Sarah asked as Casey sluggishly walked away completely lost in thought. Sarah followed him back to the car, where after a minute he said he was fine and couldn't believe she'd left the moron by himself to explore Graham's house. They shared a chuckle and she turned to go back in when Casey grasped her forearm and said it was ok for Chuck to share, and that they'd better find everything today because tonight he and Mr. Walker Black Label are going to have a duel. Sarah nodded and began to wonder what the 'secret' could possibly be.

"Is he ok?" Chuck asked as he looked up from the desktop computer on Graham's desk.

"I think so. He is as shaken up as I've ever seen him, though. He said it was ok for you to tell me what you told him, but first… have you looked at my file?"

Chuck hemmed and hawed leading Sarah to believe the answer was 'yes', but Chuck soon found the words he wanted to say, "Not really… I've had flashes; no pun intended. A gaudy ring you had on over a year ago triggered one, and the time with your soufflé… as much as I wanted to learn anything about your past, I knew it wouldn't matter unless you were the one to tell me." Staring into his eyes Sarah easily sensed the sincerity in them and strolled over to look at what Chuck was doing.

Chuck looked deeply into Sarah's eyes hoping he hadn't betrayed her trust and she responded by running a hand through his hair. He closed his eyes as her fingertips grazed his skin a feeling of tranquility filled him. The look of adoration in his eyes when he opened them was clearly noticed by Sarah as he could see the growing red in her cheeks. He uttered a contented sigh before saying, "When I was little and upset or frustrated; my mom would do that. It was the one thing guaranteed to make me feel better; well her Rice Krispie treats were a close second. After she left and things would come up; I could see Ellie start to do that, but instead wrap me in a hug. I think she thought if she did that she'd be taking away one of the main positives I remember about my mom."

Sarah immediately began to drop her hands, but Chuck with surprisingly quick reflexes, grasped her wrist, "I didn't tell you this to make you stop. I just realized that this and straightening my tie, even when it doesn't need it, have been ways to tell me that you care about me. Thank you."

Sarah started to speak, but between Chuck's words, eyes, and grin she was left scrambling for the right words and 'I also did it as an excuse to touch you' didn't seem quite right for the moment. She panicked slightly as indecisiveness was never an attribute she would have been accused of before Chuck so while her mind was racing her body reacted on its own and her hands started to move across Chuck's shirt de-wrinkling it. She hadn't realized she was holding her breath until Chuck wrapped her in a hug and said, "It's ok Sarah."

A few seconds later after the warmth of Chuck's embrace escaped from her grasp; Sarah shook her head to clear the remaining cobwebs and saw Chuck excitedly typing furiously on Graham's keyboard. A gleeful chortle emanated from him, but paused as he felt the soft yet steel grip of Sarah rest upon his shoulder. He turned to see her and at her inquisitive look offered up, "I guess I'm in my element here. Whoever Graham had set the defenses up is good. Whomever Beckman had trying to break through the layers, not so much. They tried to brute force their way through, but at least they had the sense to stop as the computer has a 'doomsday code' imbedded that will completely wipe the hard drive."

Chuck stopped as he wanted to see if Sarah understood what he was saying and she didn't voice any concerns so he continued, "However each layer they broke through has placed items in a more secure section."

"How long will it take to break through?" Chuck smiled at the confidence Sarah showed by not asking 'if he can break through'.

"It can vary. I was able to install a 'virus' I created, which has been breaking down the barriers. It may take five minutes or up to an hour. From a quick look at the defenses I would guess forty-five minutes. Should we start looking to see if there are physical files?"

Sarah nodded and immediately went to a built-in bookcase and started moving books until a large click was heard. She rolled her eyes at the incredulous Chuck gave. "A look at the outside of the house compared to the contour of the interior left room for a space. Due to his position they had to have a safe room installed, but the code needs to be known by one of the other heads of the intelligence community. That would be why Graham would not keep anything physical there. I would also guess he has something that would cause radar to send out a false signal because Beckman would scour every inch of this property to find this room."

Sarah pulled the bookcase from the wall and exclaimed a profanity. Chuck moved to look and soon understood as there was both a retinal scanner and a handprint analyzer. Sarah pulled out her phone seemed to second guess herself, but eventually hit the send button and put the phone to her ear. In discussing the options Chuck's stomach grew more than a little queasy as the eventual option became clearer. The General then instructed the two to continue what they were doing and hopefully tomorrow they will be able to enter the room. After all even with their resources exhuming the body of the CIA director with or without a court order needs time to put into effect.

A thorough investigation of the rest of the den came up with nothing. The two then proceeded to go through the rest of the house in which Chuck shared the newly found paternal obligation of Alex Coburn. The fruits of their labor only amounted to a few files found in cubby holes, but they were more hopeful in what could be on his computer. Another conversation of theirs while going through the house was how Chuck happened to have a virus on standby. As Chuck tried to briefly go through his college hacker days as the 'Piranha' he could sense Sarah look at him differently. He started to blurt out an apology if he disappointed her, when she immediately rushed over to him, told him to 'shut up' and wrapped her arms around him for a quick hug.

"Chuck, I am the furthest thing from disappointed in you. I've told you about my childhood and while it does surprise me a little. These were contests in which you were comparing your skills to other hackers, in essence sparring, right?" Chuck took a second and nodded, "After the crapfest Stanford, the slut, and the Brycehole put you through you had these tools available, right?" Chuck nodded again. "These tools and your skills would command a hefty price on the open market; whether it was our government, another one, or some nefarious wannabe you could create chaos." Chuck tried to lower his head, but Sarah held his head up and waited until his eyes met hers before she continued, "But you didn't; you had every right to lash out against those that betrayed you, not to mention those that stood by and watched it happen without doing anything and you chose not to… I wish I'd had the strength to do what you did."

This time the reverse happened as Sarah tried to force her head down against Chuck's hand, "Sarah Walker, you are not responsible for any of the cons you and your father pulled. You were not in any position to turn him in. Knowing you would be placed in a juvenile detention facility and I don't even want to consider what could have happened there. Mainly though, you absolutely had known no other way of life. Those unspeakable things I could have done; there were more than a handful of times I actually considered them, but eventually I would think how that would affect Ellie, or Morgan and I could not do it to them."

A shrill sound came from Chuck's phone which he said was the signal his program was done. He asked Sarah if she wanted to continue searching the upstairs and she shook her head. Sarah asked Chuck to turn his head for a few seconds and he obliged. Turning back Sarah had an unfamiliar knife in her hand and proceeded to place a notch in the rooms that they had searched. Finishing that she looped her arm around Chuck's, leaned into him slightly, and they headed down the stairs and back into the den.

Chuck quickly cloned the computer and the two decided to check on the Major. The Scotch decanter while not empty; had a serious dent in it, Casey was at least coherent, but most definitely impaired. Casey had one question for Chuck and that was if he could recall who was checking on Kathleen and her daughter. Chuck responded with a Colonel Keller that caused an angry grunt to escape Casey's mouth and his anger fueled him to shakily rise from the back seat and stagger towards Chuck. Sarah unwilling to take a chance easily swept his leg and Casey found himself sprawled on the driveway.

"Damnit Walker, I'm pissed at Keller, not the kid… although I understand; you can't take a chance with me yet. Keller is the man who recruited me into the spy game and his first credo is to put the past behind you; it can only haunt you. If I'd have known… I don't know what to do."

Chuck and Sarah each offered a hand to help him up and the big man struggled initially to maintain his balance once vertical. Chuck complicated matters when he suggested that perhaps they stay at Graham's for the night since Casey wasn't in any shape to really do anything until he slept and woke up. Sarah griped that she had received a message that the new director wanted to see her tomorrow morning, but she wasn't in the mood to do so. Offering up that before this meeting she wanted to finish with the house first and going back would put her in a much better position to put that off. In what presumably was the vote Chuck and Casey shrugged their shoulders so they tossed the Major in the backseat while Sarah took the wheel and Chuck rode shotgun. A move he slightly regretted after making a remark that this car may not handle like her Porsche. The trip back was much shorter than getting there as Sarah got the car into triple digits to Chuck's dismay.

The night was relatively quiet as the restaurant choices were of the fast food variety. They quickly settled on a vegetarian, no olives pizza, and head out to the Coldstone for some Rocky Road and Mint Chip for Sarah and Chuck respectively. They were pleasantly surprised the General only called once and that was to inform them a car would be there at 0800; whether the Major would be there was an entirely different question. From that news Chuck wanted to go to wherever Casey was staying and help, but Sarah convinced him there were a lot of potential questions and probably bottles of Scotch that Casey was going through. He needed to get those answers for himself and by all accounts the guilt he still felt towards Chuck would muddle his mind as much as the Johnnie Walker.

When the alarm went off at 0645 neither one wanted to move from where they were and Sarah regretted it more when the 'World Famous Waffles' turned out to be some generic slop you got from a machine. Chuck made a mention of Robocop, but Sarah just looked at him strangely. The car arrived at 0755 and they opened the back seat door to find Casey snoring. When they went to complain where they were supposed to sit the man simply tossed them the keys and pulled out a phone. The rock, paper, scissors contest ended unceremoniously as Sarah's scissors won her the keys. The ride there was even quicker than the one heading back the previous night. As they pulled in Sarah hit the brakes extremely hard causing a pain riddled grunt to come from the back. Casey mumbled the items were in the trunk, in the styrofoam container. Chuck quickly grabbed the box, but Sarah took it as she reminded Chuck what was in it.

Sarah plied Casey out of the auto with another container in the trunk, this time it was piping hot coffee. After three cups Casey was relatively human, or as Chuck suggested when he was out of ear shot, 'As close as he will get'. The two spies did a quick perimeter check before reentering the house. Going back to the den, Sarah quickly got back to the biometric lock and proceeded to place Graham's eye for the retinal scan and hand for the fingerprint reading. The three shared the look of disappointment as the door chose to state while the items were a match the core temperature signified Graham was not alive. They now had ninety seconds for one of the three secondary persons to step forward for them to be allowed entrance or the room would be incinerated eventually taking down the house within five minutes from the start, depending on the weather.

Chuck offered to try and see if he could rewire it, Casey looked for other possible ways to enter, but Sarah simply placed herself in the position and to the two males' shock the door opened with a vocal greeting of 'Welcome Sarah Walker'. A quick look at the room showed a file cabinet, a shelf filled with what appeared to be manuscripts, a small table with a monitor on it and a folding chair. The monitor came to life and suddenly Graham's voice was heard asking if Sarah was alone and if not he preferred to speak to her alone.

Casey was in shock as Chuck was insistent upon leaving Sarah in the room alone. His growl echoed through the house until Casey's alcohol pickled brain started correctly firing its synapses and caused him to blurt out, "You know the reason why Graham would want to talk to Sarah alone, don't you? I don't need to know the reason why and honestly after yesterday I don't know how many more secrets I can take, so do you know?"

Chuck sheepishly nodded his head and Casey replied with one of his own, before stating they needed to check Graham's bathroom for some ibuprofen. When they made it back downstairs after a successful mission they found Sarah sitting at the breakfast nook just staring at the countertop. Casey excused himself by stating he would take the parts of Graham back to the car and call Beckman to let her know what they have found.

When the front door shut Chuck and Sarah both quickly moved to the other. "What did he say to you?" Chuck whispered into Sarah's ear.

Sarah took a deep breath and gulped before answering, "He apologized that he had you killed. He said there was still too much for me to do before settling down. He then said he understood if I was the one who killed him for taking you away, but he would not have changed a thing as you were too much of a risk to let completely go and not worth the effort to have a protection detail or lock up." Sarah stopped for a moment and locked eyes with Chuck to let him know she would have taken Graham out if the order had been executed. Chuck gave a quick nod to let her know he understood.

"He then said while he may have lied about the second promise he made to me, he did keep his word on the first. There was a bank account that contained a half million dollars and had a security deposit box filled with four million in bearer bonds. However there was a cost to obtain the account number and name in which it is under: Beckman and Orion's death. He then told me that Orion was the man most responsible for the creation of the Intersect and after an unsuccessful mission disappeared, but still would pop up on the radar occasionally. Once I left and closed the door it would only reopen with Beckman's retinal scan and Orion's hand. The sensors would indicate whether either was alive. Then the video would play that would let me know the info on the account; if any 'funny stuff' was attempted the room was programmed to go up like a roman candle…"

Chuck looked at her and while he knew she was capable of it and could arguably rationalize it since both played a role in the reason for his death. Granted Orion's was rather flimsy, but he could easily foresee Sarah acting as a vigilant angel destroying all that were a part of the Intersects creation and implementation. "Sarah, perhaps we have an advantage that Graham didn't count on."

Sarah looked at him questioningly before a warm smile came over her face and she hugged him tighter, "You're still alive," was barely audible from her muffled speech into his shoulder. The small chuckle earned him the 'Enforcer's glare' and Chuck quickly backed off. The two went back into the 'secret room' and waited to see if the message would replay and they started to examine the file cabinet which contained five files which had papers containing gibberish and one that held a US Passport, that contained a number of stamps from other countries, but did not have an identity. Sarah pocketed it assuming that was for her 'alter ego' which then brought both of their attention to the shelf.

Sarah took a quick look to make sure there was not an evident trip wire as they looked through the binders which had titles that were in Greek. Sarah began to translate and Chuck tried to force his mind back to the Intro to Plays course he took at Stanford that helped satisfy the English requirement. The names of the plays sounded familiar and when Sarah stated one and continued on she noticed his furrowed brow and stopped. He asked Sarah to repeat the last four or five titles and as she said the first two he stated they were written by Euripides, but the scripts were supposedly lost in time. The next one caused him to shoot up as Pygmalion was a Greek myth, but not a Greek play. He told Sarah to pull that binder and she carefully did and opened it on the table. The first page was a title page and the second and third contained complex calculus equations. The fourth page contained symbols Sarah did not recognize, but she did notice Chuck begin to flash. She quickly brought the chair behind him as the flash lasted for over thirty seconds; after which he collapsed on the chair. Sarah tried cajoling, throwing a glass of water, even kissing him; alas none of these options woke him up. As the panic grew Sarah yelled out for Casey who came racing in and yelled 'Chuck me! What happened?'

Following the explanation and call to Beckman who stated to take Chuck to Walter Reed and she would have them waiting. The General was true to her word as they quickly ushered Chuck into a room where they began some preliminary testing. Beckman and Montgomery arrived about an hour into the testing to find a concerned Major Casey trying to find a comfortable position in the waiting room chair. After acknowledging their presence a minute passed before Roan asked where Sarah was.

The concern left the Major's face for a second before reverting back to concern as he said, "When they took the kid in and tried to stop Walker from following she gave him a look that caused him to piss his pants right there. She went in and while other people have come and gone, she's been in there the whole time."

At that moment a doctor came out and noticed the General. She went over to her and saluted before starting her report. Casey and Montgomery were doing their best to attempt to listen in, but the ambient noise made it difficult to grasp more than a few unconnected words. The two were shaken as the imperturbable Brigadier General let some emotion show on her face. It was gone quickly as was the doctor who disappeared back into the room. Beckman walked back and the emotion in the room grew tenser as it took her over a minute to raise her gaze from her shoes.

"He is stable." That caused Roan and John to release their held breath. "However part of his brain has shut down with only minimal activity. The doctor mentioned his brain appears in 'sleep' mode, but it was as a computer and not human sleep. They want to run more tests. Their hope is that he will trigger what is needed to wake up, otherwise surgery or electroshock therapy appears to be the treatments they are leaning towards." A small smile came over the General's face for a moment before the disgust coming from her two compatriots forced her to explain, "She asked how the scary woman would react if neither option worked as the two options were a shot in the dark. I told her she would put them through exactly what they put him through." She sighed and finished, "I think those two options are now off the table."

A somber silence then held the room until they heard a muffled, 'Out!' Soon the door opened and the two nurses and doctor fled the room. A different silence held the room as none of the three wanted to be the one to approach one of the deadliest people in the world in a normal setting, but if she was upset…

Casey took a deep breath and stiffly walked to the door and gently knocked on the door. Not hearing a response he quickly opened the door and of all the possibilities he never considered the actual sight in front of him. Bartowski was laid out on the bed with in IV tray and a monitor which flickered on different levels of information every five seconds. It took him a moment to find her, but she was lying next to him; encircling him with her arms yet she somehow wrapped his right arm around her. Her face was covered by her hair, but he could see the clench in her jaw.

He allowed himself to absorb the picture in front of him and perhaps for the first time truly understood that they could never really return to what they were before that damned night Graham blew himself up. He had always believed Walker had felt as strongly for the nerd as he did her and looking back noticed her jaw had relaxed from where it had been a few seconds ago. He realized this was a watershed moment for him; just the news alone the kid had told him caused a massive surge of humanity starting that tug of war with duty that he hadn't felt since Keller informed him that he was needed by his country to do more and his sacrifice would be its own reward. He had witnessed over the past year Walker have this similar pulling from two opposites. It was clear which side won and the fact he felt happy for them, startled him a little. They were on an extremely narrow road; right now it was the two of them against the entire world. For the first time since Keller's recruitment speech Alex Coburn was ready to tell the greater good to go to hell. "Don't you two worry; I'm not going to let anything happen to either of you."

Casey smiled until the thought crept in that this was the first step in reclaiming the soul that had been dispersed from missions over every continent, including Antarctica. He shook his head and his body involuntarily spasmed from that hippie gobbledygook. He turned to give the two some privacy when his shoe squeaked against the floor. A contented, "Thank you John," was whispered, but managed to drown out the machines in the room. He was barely able to replace the shy smile he had with his normal stone façade before opening the door.

When Casey closed the door he did a security sweep of the visible areas from his position outside the door. He caught Roan and the General in a potentially compromising moment and averted his eyes quickly. Soon the two found him and walked over asking for the status. Not wanting to delve into specifics Casey said that they both needed a break with what was going on. The General nodded and had caught up with the doctor and she had said all there was to do for now was observe and see if there was a change or if some stimuli. There was nothing to be done until the MRI was available and because the last person to use it had neglected to inform them she had a piercing in a private area despite their asking and warning. The room was a mess, but the machine needed to go through a reboot and full testing before allowing it to be used once again.

Three hours later Casey heard the door latch begin to retract and offered a quirked look to the tousled haired blonde before telling her the time and that they would be taking her nerd to the MRI in about an hour. She grumbled when he passed a wrapped sandwich to her, but she readily accepted it and closed the door with a smile.

When it was time Casey halted them at the door and knocked twice before pausing for a moment and entering. He found her wiping her eyes and quickly turning to try and hide it from him. The staff to take him transferred him to a gurney and with Sarah right on their tail took him to the Imaging room. They kept him in the machine for over an hour and the doctors were unhappy as they were no closer to how to jump start part of his brain.

Another twelve hours of assorted tests left the professionals no closer to a clue and the collected spies frustrated. They had managed to drag Sarah out of Chuck's room, but they could all see she was itching to get back to him. Sarah had told Casey during the MRI to go back to Graham's and secure the area. Do not shut the door to the room, but leave the contents in there. She was fairly certain her file was in there and the greatest likelihood was it had been the one to cause Chuck to 'short-circuit'. Casey had come back with food and their two suitcases. His look was sullen and hearing that when he got there the door was closed caused Sarah's head to droop. The price to reopen the door was an exceptionally high one, but with Chuck in his current position she wouldn't risk his health on any move she could make. However it did bring to mind a name that could be the only one to help.

She blurted out to the three, "Who is Orion?"

Beckman seemed to perk up momentarily, Casey appeared nonplussed, and Roan had the strangest reaction as he could only notice his shoes until Beckman spoke. "As I said before I have spent numerous resources in trying to locate them, but I have no clue who any of them are."

Roan coughed and without looking up offered, "I believe Orion and Frost may have been involved. Hearing those names yesterday triggered a fleeting memory. Frost was my extraction on a mission in the Baltics… I may have too overtly shown my appreciation as I attempted to offer my services to help her relax after the mission… This was '82 or so…" He made sure he caught Beckman's eyes with that last statement before he finished with, "A man came by and clipped my jaw and snarled to keep it in my pants. The last thing I remember was Frost looking to me and shaking her head. She laughingly said 'Orion' before the minor concussion from hitting the floor knocked me out. I don't recall if I ever got a look at his face, but I don't remember it at all now."

The next item surprised the other three once more as Sarah flatly stated, "Unless they come up with something in the next few hours I'm taking Chuck home." Beckman offered an immediate objection, but couldn't really offer anything that could sway Sarah's mindset. Beckman got up and looked at Sarah and nodded her assent as she went to talk to the doctors once again.

Four hours later Casey was flying a plane back with Sarah gripping one of Chuck's bedridden hands with both of hers. She had a USB drive in her pocket that was 'cleared' for Ellie. After Sarah informed them that Ellie's preferred specialty was neurology and trying to keep her away from Chuck was similar to trying to keep herself away from him especially with what was going on. If they didn't believe Sarah then; hearing the phone call between the two women firmly cemented the idea: despite the soft exterior, Eleanor Bartowski was somebody you did not to deal with if Chuck's well being was at stake.

Sarah fell asleep and even as Casey brought the plane in she did not wake. A soft hand to her cheek caused her to sigh, "Chuck" and quickly opened her eyes which immediately saddened as Chuck obviously hadn't moved. Sarah quickly turned her head and found the gaze of Ellie much softer than she had expected, especially from the tone of their phone call.

"Sarah, I wish you had called me immediately, but I know you were concerned about Chuck first and foremost, and getting in touch with me was a secondary concern. I should not have yelled at you on the phone. If there's anybody I trust with Chuck it is you." Sarah tried to answer, but found it difficult to focus. She tried to speak, but was soon encompassed by a hug. When Ellie let go she could see Sarah was trying hard to hold onto her composure. The blonde reached into a pocket and pulled out the drive. Ellie nodded and took a step towards Chuck and began an exam allowing Sarah to quickly go into the bathroom and splash some water on her face.

The water helped calm her, but she was left with the question of what happened to Casey? How could he explain flying a plane that transported his neighbor and girlfriend? When she came out there was a team that was unloading Chuck into an ambulance and after a cursory look before entering the vehicle Sarah did not see where the Major was. After Ellie finished looking over Chuck, Sarah asked her if the pilot had been there when she boarded. Ellie shook her head and said that they were waiting at a different hangar and when they arrived she boarded and only found the two of them.

The rest of the trip Ellie spent on the phone alerting what she wanted set up for Chuck. She offered a questioning look to Sarah and finally asked if this was everything they had. Sarah's response reminded her that there was no way a layperson would know if they had given her everything. Ellie would contact the attending physician after her tests were run to answer some questions on the care given to her brother.

Arriving at the hospital they group was quickly whisked into a room. They passed the waiting room for the wing Chuck was in and Sarah noticed a few people sitting in there. Sarah was standing in the room and insistent she did not want to be separated from Chuck. Ellie felt guilty listening to Sarah plead to stay with him, but after Ellie's assurance that if there was any change she would be told immediately and there was nothing she could do in the room. Sarah silently resigned herself to leave; knowing Ellie would protect him as fiercely as she would and she did not want to be a distraction.

Remembering there were people in the waiting room, Sarah tried to sneak in and find an unoccupied corner she could ruminate in. She would have no such luck as she easily recognized two of the three men there and although she didn't know the third there was something familiar about him. Devon channeling his fiancée approached Sarah a bit cautiously before giving her a hug and offering a reassurance to her.

As they separated Sarah was about to thank him for both his words and action when Morgan shocked everybody in the room as he pushed Devon aside and glared as menacingly as he could before he growled out, "What did you do to him? It wasn't good enough to lead him by his nose for the better part of a year; teasing him into thinking he has a chance before pulling the rug out. I don't know whether the harpy or you was worse for him. Just because you're pretty with a somewhat decent body doesn't give you the right to disrupt a person's life for your own amusement. I know your old boyfriend, douchebag supreme, made an appearance recently and you chose to rub it in his face. If you cared about Chuck in the slightest…"

The barrage was stopped as Morgan felt himself lifted up and bounced off the wall. Blinking a few times to regain his bearings he was able to establish his feet were not on the ground. When his eyes were able to focus once again he looked straight ahead and saw Death staring back at him; he managed an audible gulp.

"Finish what you were saying." Came out in a low rumble and if he didn't know who was in front of him Morgan would have sworn it was a command from Clint Eastwood in what would inevitably start a rampage where very few survived.

Morgan shook his head until he winced from the sudden headache. He vaguely heard Devon call his name and something after, but he could not make it out. When he looked straight ahead once again he was grateful he did not spot eminent death, but he could see he was teetering on the line between death and survival. His fairly honed survival instinct kicked in and clamped his mouth shut.

Sarah seemed to sense this and took a breath to calm herself a little before she spoke, "First, do not EVER even insinuate Bryce Larkin was my boyfriend, EVER; he is a…" Morgan's eyes filled with confusion while the other two looked away from the others not wanting to betray their knowledge of that person. Sarah tried to ramp up her anger, "IF I CARE ABOUT CHUCK! You smug asshole, he is the ONLY thing I care about."

Sarah's arms suddenly weary from the emotional toll of the past few days dropped Morgan who was caught completely unaware and fell to the ground in a heap. Sarah quickly found that corner and turned away from the others refusing to allow herself to show any emotion. Devon scrambled over and gave a quick look to a still shaky Morgan. He helped the bearded one to his feet and started to drag him out of the room. Just as they were out he called back in stating he was taking Morgan to check on a concussion… and the bathroom as there is a trail of liquid forming behind them.

Sarah, feeling much more in control turned around to see the older man attempt unsuccessfully a few times to say something, which once again tinged on something so familiar. Finally he shook his head and took a step closer to her while taking out a pen and clicking it once. Sarah's eyebrows and defenses rose from the noise as she looked over the man more carefully.

"The curse of the Bartowski men is that they have to find the most lethal and beautiful woman on the planet to unconditionally surrender their heart to." Sarah paused and shyly nodded at that as the feeling of not being worthy of Chuck seeped in, "Our greatest blessing is that despite our meager attempts at charm with other women, the object of our yearning understands us like nobody else. I'm Stephen Bartowski, Chuck's father, and you are Sarah Walker, the love of my son's life."

Sarah offered a kind smile back, but Stephen could tell she was starting to realize what he had exactly said and was now concerned. "This pen is a white noise generator with a range of five feet, although it should not affect any telemetry, I did not want to take a chance in the hospital. While both of my initial descriptions of us are completely true; they do not begin to scratch the surface of who we fully are. Would you agree Agent Walker?"

The concern and agitation on Sarah's face grew, but she was in a complete quandary as to how to handle this. Stephen seemed to recognize this and although his nerves were slightly showing offered the pen to her as a start. She warily took it as Stephen began to talk, "Where to start…" noticing Sarah looking at the pen he chose that item, "Well, now while on certain jobs you usually don't get many gadgets, but the ones you do are designed to look like everyday items. The problem is that you eventually need that everyday item, but you didn't bring it along, lest you confuse the two. While it is a noise generator it is also a pen. The one click activates both; there is a small button on the top of the clip that turns off the generator whereas clicking it once more would deactivate both… Oh, also it emits a small beep when you are low on ink and you can get a replacement cartridge at any store." He attempted to smile, but it was halted by an embarrassment that he had talked too much. His rambling and other idiosyncratic movements and tells all screamed out the truth that he was Chuck's father, which offered her a small reprieve until her mind reminded her she preferred more to discover the complete library of the male Bartowski reactions from the one in a comatose state.

Stephen gave her another moment to collect herself as well as try to figure out what to say next as the time he has spent away from his children has also been away from humanity in general and as such he lacked any semblance of comfort in social cues. "I think it is important that when Ellie allows visitors that you and I go in together, so I can help him."

Sarah's eyes widened as the shock of the conclusion her mind came to forced her to blurt out, "You're Orion."

Morgan was sitting on the exam room table mindlessly kicking his legs while Devon was looking through an otoscope. When the doctor turned away Morgan looked down at the scrub pants and bag his pants and underwear were in and quietly asked, "What does it say when you start to become used to being bullied by women?"

Devon looked at him for a moment, shook his head and turned it away from him for a moment before he answered, "I will agree there was a bully in the waiting room, but it was you and definitely not Sarah. Do you remember what you said to her?" There was some silence, "The question was not meant to be rhetorical, but it is two-fold. First to make sure there is no memory loss because it does appear you may have a mild concussion and second you unloaded a lot of crap at her without knowing even a decent amount of the story. I need you to stay here while I scrounge up a room and see if a sitter is available."

"Sitter? It's not like I'm nineteen still."

Devon chose to ignore the last remark and state, "Yes, a volunteer to watch over you. I'm back on call in another hour and I want you awake for at least the next twelve hours to make sure no symptoms appear. If you start to feel dizzy or nauseous tell them and they'll contact a nurse. I'll stay with you until you are settled."

Sarah's mind was still swimming that the impossible search to find the elusive 'Orion' ended before it even began. Another part was slowly reconciling that Graham's secrets were locked away in that room forever. Taking Beckman's life would be somewhat difficult, but she couldn't take Chuck's father away from him… unless he did something completely stupid like choose to abandon his children once more. Sarah put that to the back of her mind as he also relayed he knew her secret as well. One other similarity between father and son was their earnest look when he swore he would never tell another soul, Sarah scoured over his features to find any miniscule sign that he wasn't completely sincere and could not find any.

She was able to find some relief in the fact her apartment was clean of any bugs; despite her constant sweeps she trusted Graham and Beckman to honor not bugging her apartment as long as it behooved them. Sensing her relief he continued on by stating he had edited some of the footage between Chuck and her when he realized she cared about him more than she had known. When the phrase of her knowing he was a hero came up she stilled. "I still had some doubts; not about if or even how much you cared for him. It was if you would be able to recognize it before circumstances would force you to leave. I would do anything to spare him that feeling of watching your life walk out the door with a waning hope she will find her way back."

Sarah placed her hand on top of Stephen's as a token of comfort as Roan's story now began to filter in with the current knowledge to Chuck's history that he had shared of his father. Putting it all together made her understand why Ellie hated the word complex as it seemed like she grew up watching her parents completely define the word for her. The two fell into a comfortable silence after turning off the generator as both had a litany of questions to ask, but neither felt right in getting those answers without Chuck present and awake to hear them as well.

Devon made a quick entrance completely unsurprised by the lack of voices, but a part of him was warmed in seeing the two sitting together lending the other whatever strength they could muster. He placed a sandwich and can of soda in front of each and told them he was going on duty in a few minutes. Their genuine smile at his declaration that Chuck was going to pull through gave him as much confidence as he had them with his statement.

An hour later a fatigued and defeated looking Eleanor Bartowski pooled herself into the chair next to the two. Her father offered her the half of the sandwich he hadn't eaten with a look of concern both women clearly recognized from his son. Sarah quickly got up and despite Ellie's insistent 'no' the brunette soon found herself curled up against her father. Even with the comfort they were deriving from each other it became quite clear the third person in the room's attention was clearly focused on the room across the hall. Ellie gave Sarah the reprieve she was hoping for as she said they were going to be leaving Chuck alone for a few hours as they were waiting for the results and then she wanted a consult with the doctors at Walter Reed. Ellie stopped at the chuckle her dad let out and soon realized it was the blonde doing her best to nonchalantly run into the room Chuck was in.

Stephen let Ellie get everything off her chest the relief that he was not deteriorating in any way, but frustrated at the lack of progress in discovering what the problem is. As much as he wanted to help Chuck it dawned on him how many moments he missed that obviously weren't of this magnitude, but where his mere presence could have helped either of them. The sorrow soaked through him, no matter how prophetic his fears of his family being used for the government's bidding. The fact it happened in spite of his leaving them with no trace of Orion and/or Frost around either sickened him. He stopped his thought process as there was one thread and he still was unsure on how to eradicate it.

After getting out of his head, Stephen felt his daughter completely relaxed against him and softly snoring. He motioned a nurse over who quickly scampered back with a blanket and pillow. He carefully removed himself from the coach as he situated Ellie as comfortably as he could make her. A reflex found her grasping his hand as he had finished causing a whispered snort of, "I wasn't planning on going anywhere Eleanor… but with my past I can understand not believing it."

Stephen shuffled a chair over and watched his daughter sleep. Devon quietly entered the room about an hour later and nodded to the elder Bartowski. He also answered Stephen's question about Chuck and Sarah that she was wrapped around him dozing as well. After Devon left Stephen did his best to not allow himself to get caught up in his guilt and what he was going to do moving forward. He had planned on telling Chuck about Orion before this happened, but forcing him to keep it a secret from Ellie went against everything he had told the two. Granted his 'outing' himself would not only affect himself, but Chuck and Sarah as well. He allowed his mind to construct lists of reasons to and not to tell Ellie, and presumably Devon about this. Despite his trusting Beckman, even unknowingly, with his part of the key; he refused to be at the beck and call of whichever alphabet outfit felt was in charge of the nation's security.

A tight squeeze of his hand roused Stephen from the slumber he had been in. He looked down to find an apologetic look; yet one full of remembrance after a night with the flu or even when that boy Evan invited her to 'The Party of the Year' and abandoned her right after they got there. As much as he didn't want to leave this chair or room; there was a stronger call for his presence and even Ellie could tell his reluctance as he asked if he could see Chuck. The thought that he still hadn't seen Chuck since… whenever filled her with a strange feeling. She immediately acquiesced and Stephen could see the guilt and halted the apology he knew was coming.

Entering Chuck's room, after Ellie left to find his test results and make the call to Walter Reed, he remembered what Devon had described, but it didn't match the reality. Chuck could more appropriately be called Sarah's teddy bear. From past experience he knew waking Sarah was going to be an adventure. However, he did not want to risk somebody else walking in while he was in the process of 'rebooting' Chuck. Stephen called out to Sarah, at first quietly, but soon increased his volume. He was able to garner a murmur, but did not move her to waken. A touch to her foot caused a gasp and 'Chuck' to emit from the blonde spy and an 'Oh boy' from the scientist. It eventually took Stephen to say, "Chuck needs you," to fully awaken Sarah.

The initial abashed look turned to one of question and concern which Stephen quelled with a raised hand. He produced what looked like a credit card out of his wallet and waved it around him. "There's no electronic surveillance except for the telemetry for Chuck's vitals. I wanted you awake just in case something like this happens again… I am working on the extraction device… it is very close, but it isn't perfect yet there are still some negative effects."

Sarah stopped herself from asking about the negative effects as she realized who his test subject was. Stephen noticed the concern Sarah had been showing her son shift to him and he shrugged it off as he leaned into Chuck's ear and whispered, "Greetings Programs."

Chuck's eyes started moving despite them remaining closed. Sarah was furiously looking over Chuck and then looked over to Stephen for his opinion. Misinterpreting her look he merely said, "It was the last sentence in our favorite movie, Tron."

As her brow furled and mouth start to curl downward, Stephen understood what she had been hoping for. "It should not take more than five minutes. With the amount of information I assume they have placed in the Intersect the code needs to work its way completely through."

A thought crossed Sarah's mind, "What if somebody says this line or if we see Tron and Chuck is awake? Will it still put him through this?"

Stephen shook his head, "No. This was designed only to work when in hibernation mode." Stephen's immediate and firm stance gave her a modicum of relief as she knew that one of Chuck's first things he would want to do is watch Tron with his father.

She looked back to find two brown eyes staring at her. "Chuck," squeaked out and she clamped onto the prone body.

"What happened, angel?" Chuck could feel Sarah's head shake and chose to enjoy the feeling and wait for the explanation.

His eyes opened of their own volition and looked around the room. Chuck's mouth dropped as his eyes widened from the ghost at the foot of his bed. Hearing it state, "Hi, Charles;" called for only one response.

"Oh, boy."

 _ **A/N: The last chapter was set to end at the cliffhanger moment of Chuck's Intersect shut down. Obviously while I am clearly not above doing that; I did want to give you guys a break. While I don't have any excuse in not looking back to see if Chuck spilled the 'Piranha' beans earlier I'm going to use I needed the time to try to get the chapter finished as my excuse. As always please feel free to review or pm any questions or things you potentially would like to see. Thanks for reading.**_


	14. Chapter 14

_**A/N: If you have a preference to the shorter or longer chapters, please let me know. It won't necessarily make a difference in this story, but for future ones. Casey will not be approaching Kathleen or Alex in this story, in case anybody was looking forward to that; as we all know a Casey stalks its prey. There is a lot of talking in this chapter; it is a necessary 'evil' to work through the where and why Stephen left. Thanks to all those that continue to read and review this story. I do not recall last time I added this caveat, but I do not own Chuck.**_

 **A Different Kind of Couple**

 **Chapter 14**

 _"Oh boy."_

When Sarah heard those words, a gulp and panic quickly set in as Chuck's eyes fluttered shut again. "Chuck, you cannot do this to me… without you I'm just a spy."

Sarah's eyes cast down and away in a forlorn look. Her highly tuned spy instincts must have turned off as well judging from the gasp of surprise as she felt a familiar pair of arms wrap around her. The warmth so all encompassing she wanted to melt into them like butter on toast. She looked up into Chuck's worried eyes and both got lost for a moment, until Chuck blinked.

"I'm sorry to scare you like that Sarah. Where are we and why am I in a hospital? Is something wrong? Well actually I don't want to alarm you anymore than I already have, but I might be suffering from hallucination because I could have sworn my dad was standing at the foot of my bed, but with you saying you were a spy means there's no way he could be there." Chuck turns slightly to look and once again views his father staring at him with the smile that meant everything to him when he was little; the one full of pride.

"Sarah, there may be something seriously wrong because I still see him." Chuck merely pointed to the end of the bed.

"Charles, it's ok. I am here; everything is going to be all right."

Chuck looks at him wide eyed and remembering what Sarah had uttered tries to explain, "Really? Well you should know Sarah is not what she had said earlier… it's kind of a game we like to play that takes the monotony from our plain old, average, humdrum lives of working retail at an electronics and food store respectively…"

Sarah shushed Chuck; smiling as she placed a finger on his lips. Stephen reached back and scratched the back of his head before stating, "The rambling definitely comes from me. Charles, it is fine I have something that I have to tell you as well, but I want to make sure that you get a medical check because your heart rate seems rather high right now."

To Chuck's pout Sarah pulled away from Chuck and the three had slightly different reactions as they watched the monitor show his rate slowing down dramatically. Chuck was slightly embarrassed, Sarah a tad sheepish, but proud, and Stephen slightly amused as they watched it return to a resting state that was slightly below the general norm, but was in fact where Chuck's rate usually stayed.

Stephen ended the silence with, "Chuck it is my fault that you are here." Chuck's reaction was to look at him like he was still that slightly off man the last time he had seen him as a child. While Sarah looked at him wondering how he arrived at that conclusion. "I know before I left that I was acting erratically, which was one of the reasons I knew I had to leave. What you didn't know was the reason why. Initially I was recruited along with two other top minds: Hartley and Mitch as a think tank to try and bring things to reality that were barely considered plausible in science fiction. The one that was foremost in all of our minds after our first meeting was imprinting data on the human brain in a non-organic manner."

Stephen paused to make sure he hadn't lost Chuck. He could tell when the realization hit his son as he began to speak his concern about saying anything more, but Stephen held up a pen and waggled it to a smile from Sarah before finishing, "We will have to find a more secure place to talk as our time is limited here as the range of my device has most likely halted your telemetry from sending out its data to the nurse's office."

As he said that Stephen clicked the pen for everybody to see just as a nurse strode into the room in a hurried manner. He stopped as he realized the patient was awake and by all immediate accounts; fine. A quick vitals check correlated with the info on the screen. A look at the connections was not able to find an immediate reason for the glitch as the walkie-talkie part of the phone he carried answered that the info was now coming in perfectly fine. The nurse asked if there was anything Chuck wanted and laughingly shook his head as 'Pizza' was the response. The nurse explained the last thing you wanted was the cafeteria's pizza and bringing in outside food was a no-no. He ended with a wink as he said, "Especially if that pizza didn't have pepperoni on it."

Chuck shocked the other two by trying to start a pool on how long it would take Ellie to get here now that he is awake. That did not stop either from placing their guesses and left Ellie confused as to why Chuck and Sarah yelled 'Time' when she opened the door. All three earned the 'Mother's Glare' until Ellie learned Sarah won with her time of two minutes, which was the longest; Ellie's actual time was five minutes forty-five seconds to which she mumbled something about 'slow elevators'. Ellie then shooed the other two out of the room to where Devon was glancing at his watch.

"I'm on a five minute break, so I should head back, but other than a contusion on his posterior Morgan should be released later today. Chuck's fine?" Both Sarah and Stephen smiled brightly and nodded which grew into a small amount of laughter with Devon's reply of "Awesome".

Not wanting to return to the waiting room they tried to stand as unobtrusively as possible while Ellie was doing whatever she was doing in the room. A few minutes later Ellie came out, but neither could quite identify her mood; there was obvious happiness which led them to believe Chuck was in good shape. They both missed what could be characterized as doubtful curiosity. Ellie began to describe that from all appearances Chuck was perfectly fine. She did schedule another MRI to compare with the one from Walter Reed, but that was going to happen regardless. Ellie turned and stared at Sarah intently and asking in a no-nonsense tone, "Where were you two when this happened?"

Sarah looked shocked, initially and quickly determined that Chuck, if pressured with no back story to fall back on will go with as much truth as he can; especially to Ellie. "We were at my old boss's house. He recently passed away, but there were some things he owed me and we were looking through some of his paperwork to find it."

Ellie's eyes widened, "Wow, I'm sorry I don't know why, but when Chuck said that it seemed like he was making it up as he went along. His memory seems fully intact; his large and small motor skills are functioning. Have you noticed any headaches recently?"

Sarah paused and was starting to say 'Yes' when she saw Stephen subtly shake his head which caused Sarah to complete it by stating, "I cannot be completely sure because I'll kiss his forehead and rub his temples for a few seconds and he'll say he's all better."

"Ok, so I've learned my brother has a move… not exactly what I wanted to know, but you two are ridiculously cute together. While I'm inclined to keep him overnight for precautionary reasons; I know he's going to want to go home ASAP." Ellie looked at Sarah facetiously, "I know you must have better things to do with your time, but if I release my younger brother I would only be able to concentrate on work, if he is being watched constantly. Can you do that, Sarah?" Sarah shyly nodded which gave Ellie an opportunity to wrap the blonde in a hug. "Ok, I don't know if you have anything to do immediately, but the best case scenario is Chuck would be ready to go in about six hours. If we cannot find any trace of an embolism or brain trauma it would be difficult to justify keeping him here another night. I know you both want to stay here." She looked at her father, "Was he happy to see you?" At Stephen's nod he was brought into a hug. Sarah turned her head as she could see both were becoming emotional over their physical connection. After they separated and both wiped their eyes Ellie finished with, "As I said I know you both want to stay here, but if he is going to be released Devon and I are both on call here until early tomorrow morning. Sarah; Dad can take you to get your 'baby' and you two can organize what you are going to do for tonight. Chuck is going to be in for some different tests over the next few hours and there's really nothing to do but sit in the waiting room."

Sarah looked to Stephen who nodded that he would happily do what Ellie had just said and they both were in agreement that it would be best to set up what was happening tonight as they both had a feeling this night was going to change everything.

While virtually everyone who knew her, whose numbers included Graham and Larkin, would claim Sarah Walker was addicted to action. She, prior to Chuck, would also have included herself with that trait as well. Currently she was weaning herself off of the 'living for the next adrenaline rush' as envisioning a future with Chuck, as farfetched as it appeared at times, was what her soul was craving. That being said the six hours with an agenda flew by for the spy; she knew that a large part of her growing relaxation was that the time was drawing nearer for Chuck to be able to leave the hospital.

The consensus was to go to Sarah's apartment, as it would provide the privacy for the necessary conversation. Stephen agreed as well to the choice of pizza instead of his Chicken Pepperoni for dinner for expediencies sake, and that they need to stop at an office supply store as another trait father and son seemingly share is they both find it easier to explain things if they are laid out in a flow chart.

They had just gotten back to the hospital lobby when Ellie called to let them know that Chuck had 'passed with flying colors' and was set to be released shortly. Sarah stayed in the lobby for a second as she placed the order for the pizzas as Stephen went up to check on Chuck. When Sarah opened the door there was a bit of tension in the room as Stephen's face showed guilt and Chuck's one of frustration. Sarah quickly came over and kissed Chuck on the forehead which left him slightly confused.

"Chuck with your aversion to PDA, I would have to think kissing in front of your dad would be…" Sarah didn't have to continue as Chuck showed his 'I just sucked fifteen lemon's face'; finally nodding thankfully at her.

He gave a contrite look to his dad, who shook his head, "No, you deserve all the answers and more Charles. I don't expect to be forgiven, but I hope you can understand why after."

Stephen left to get the pizzas and Sarah explained the basic details that they would be going to her place and watch Tron. Chuck understood this to be code just in case there was somebody listening. Soon Chuck was discharged and the two were headed back to Maison 23.

When they got to her room, Sarah shuffled Chuck into her bathroom with a change of clothes demanding he take a shower. He laughingly obliged and was a little choked up that there were travel size bottles of his shampoo and body wash amongst her shower items. When he emerged from his shower, he admittedly felt one hundred times better and when the smell of tomato sauce, mozzarella, and assorted toppings overwhelmed his sense of smell he couldn't control the size of the smile on his face. Both his father and Sarah chose not to hold back their amusement of his reaction and Chuck ambled to the table. The three ate voraciously finishing off two large pizzas easily and Stephen suggested to a pleased audience maybe getting some ice cream after the discussion.

Chuck and Sarah sat on her bed as Stephen dragged a chair to sit in front of them. He paused for a second and closed his eyes. He reopened them as they showed a flicker of hope, "Charles, I am Orion. While I can't take credit for the entirety of creating the Intersect, I will insist that I created all the cool parts. Perhaps thankfully, they have not tested out certain capabilities that should be in this version as it may have caused an additional strain. You should be able to get past any electronic lock and spot any surveillance in a room. I am working on a method to extract the Intersect completely and am pretty close. There's just one more trial I want to put it through before I would submit you to it. I do have a device that can impede any flashes, but the Intersect would still exist in your brain and would not preclude anybody from trying to force a flash."

The last sentence stopped Sarah from stating to get that device and use it on Chuck immediately. With Fulcrum edging closer to Chuck; his having a blocked Intersect would be much worse. He couldn't spot the potential danger until it was too late and if he did fall into their hands she had a decent idea of the torture they would put him through to destroy that barrier. Chuck looked over to Sarah and noting her worried look placed his hand on her subtly twitching one which seemed to instantly relax it.

Stephen looked at the two and allowed himself to reminisce for a moment before continuing, "I think we are all in agreement that we need to stop Fulcrum before it will be safe to extract the Intersect from Chuck." Sarah reluctantly nodded. "Now I think it is best to go back and answer at least some of the questions I know Chuck has been waiting to ask. There is a reason that I left and why I am so adamant about making sure this extraction works properly because there is one other person who uploaded an Intersect which for all practical purposes destroyed the family that we had."

This time Sarah was the one who instigated the touch by intertwining her fingers with Chuck's. "I told you there were three scientists. I matriculated from Stanford, Mitch from MIT, and Hartley from Oxford. Surprisingly enough when they locked us in a room we connected instantly and not only sprouted ideas, but our combined expertise allowed us to stretch our limits and one of the items that came from the initial meeting was the Intersect. Initially it was designed to be a tool to allow for a complete immersion of knowledge that could be installed and then removed. We grew to believe both mental applications like foreign language and expert knowledge like a metallurgist or diamond expert could be implanted as well as branching out to physical skills like dancing, playing a musical instrument, or even advanced martial arts. While there were other projects we worked on and accomplished; the Intersect was our main goal. While we were still working out how to incorporate the physical skills an imposing person came down to the lab and demanded to know if we could install a personality into somebody. There was a limited time for his plan to be activated. The last thing he insisted upon was that there be a doomsday timer which was to destroy the Intersect by itself. Mitch insisted it could be done and started coding. When Hartley heard the parameters of the knowledge they lined up perfectly with him and while very much an introvert; he did have a weakness for always wanting to be James Bond twice. Twice, because he wasn't sure if the first time would scare the Living Daylights out of him and having a second chance would have those peccadilloes worked out. With those two locked in their own worlds it left me to question who this person was and why he was allowed to deal with us directly. Previously there were only two people who were allowed to have contact with us. The first, Charles, was your mother."

While Chuck's conscious mind was aware that Orion and Frost were considered a pair, he hadn't made the connection that with Orion as his dad, Frost would be his mom. Stephen looked to Sarah as Chuck was adamantly shaking his head. Sarah clung to Chuck which brought him back and looked to Stephen before asking, "The Bartowski Curse?" Stephen nodded his head as Chuck mulishly looked to Sarah as to how the two of them could have an inside joke. "Apparently Bartowski men like their women to be beautiful and deadly, but somehow these women find the Bartowski men irresistible." Sarah smilingly explained to a now blushing Chuck.

Chuck bit the inside of his cheek to hold back the smile as he looked to confirm what Sarah had just said; finally uttering, "Oh, ok… please continue dad."

"I may have jumped around, but going through the channels I was supposed to; only led to that person bumping me up further up the chain until the Secretary of Defense was on the phone and said to do as he asked and did not want to know any of the details. The man came around the next day scowling at me for wasting time checking up on him and not working on his project. Hartley then volunteered and at Mitch's insistence that they could 'program' him with a personality completely different from his normal self and it would be a complete immersion until the clock ran out. The man then took Hartley to be fitted for an assortment of suits and other items to help him fulfill the requirements of the mission. While Mitch was the de facto computer expert I watched, listened, and studied enough so by that time I was almost as proficient as him. I would double check his coding because he would work so fast sometimes his fingers could not keep up with his mind. The man before he left insisted that nobody else needed to be made aware of this op. Now, of course I had told Mary about this and when she learned of the latest episode agreed that things weren't adding up and so she volunteered to watch over Hartley. The next morning I was called into a subcommittee meeting that left me in an otherwise empty room for five hours. After a half-hearted apology that it was rescheduled for the following week; I walk into the lab to find Hartley's office packed with Mitch and the man sharing a brandy and smoking a cigar. Mitch exclaimed the installation worked perfectly and the plan was underway. When I asked how Frost was going to be able work her way into Project X's trust; that was the name of the op. Don't even try to flash, as that has been completely scrubbed from almost all records." In the midst of his monologue Stephen rose from the chair and began to pace.

Chuck sheepishly looked to his dad and shrugged his shoulders, which Stephen took as he already tried to flash on it and came up empty. "Well, I thought it might be another trap Graham could have set up, but I don't think he ever discovered there was a link between Orion, Frost, and you." He took a breath, "Have you had any problems? I've tried to keep an eye on you once I found out what Larkin had done…" Stephen's face turned red and appeared to be lost in thought.

Sarah looked to Chuck with some concern who responded by moving slowly to his father who was mumbling apologies to Chuck, Ellie, Hartley, Mary simultaneously which amounted to gibberish. Chuck wrapped his father in a hug, "Dad, don't quit on me now. We all need you."

Sarah's eyes may have moistened, but the father and son were now on an emotional precipice. Chuck released a breath he hadn't realized he was holding when his father took a deep breath and shook his head and muttered, "I'm sorry."

Sarah wanted to get Stephen back to talking again, but was concerned that the event he was describing was the trigger for his abrupt halt stated, "Stephen, I know you wanted to explain why you left. Perhaps we should skip the Project X talk and state why you would leave your teenage daughter to raise both herself and her younger brother." She added her Enforcer tone to the last part hoping that it would kick start him talking again.

It seemed to work as he separated from Chuck and quickly sat down and looked to Chuck waiting for him to do the same. He gave a haunted look to Sarah before starting up again, "I'm sorry I got carried away in all these details that I do have to get out, but…" He took a deep breath, "You're right Sarah I can get into that later. First to somewhat finish it as Project X started just about everything that has led to where we are. Mitch's countdown clock failed completely, but I have a serious doubt one was ever put in as I have never been able to look at the code. Mitch soon disappeared with a number of patents, many of which were my creations, but… that can be for later too. Our second 'handler' who was a CIA lawyer disappeared in the time frame of waiting out Hartley's clock. In less than a month the department I had been a part of for over ten years went from five to just me with no clue as to the whereabouts of the other four. Any inquiries I made for information were placed in a shredder before they were finished reading. The ones I tried to do on my own ended with me getting a new computer after they confiscated my old one. Our house was now filled with cameras. I thank all that is Holy that I had just removed the camera from my den before Chuck uploaded the beta Intersect off my Mac."

Sarah stared at Chuck with a flat look and Chuck was looking between the other two with his mouth agape. Stephen started again, "It was a very minor upload. Actually the only info on it was the schematics of the Mac and the reboot program. I ran as many tests on you as I could without alerting the CIA, but that also was the impetus for me that I had to leave the two of you. If the CIA had known your brain benefitted from the upload; they would have snatched you up as a guinea pig long before that test at Stanford." Chuck's face was full of confusion at this point, "I wasn't there physically and I can easily assume now knowing that I was keeping tabs on you and your sister may make you feel worse, but if I didn't stay away the CIA would have used you as leverage against me or even tried to recruit you. Especially after I discovered your college best friend and roommate was a recruit. After discovering your score on the test I came out of hiding to contact Larkin and threatened outing him by posting his photo and description to every foreign organization to keep you out of the CIA. I then gave him a number to contact me if he had done a good job I would owe him a favor."

Chuck looked like he was about to vomit, but Sarah was also curious about why he had given the Brycetard a phone, "While I never wanted your life devastated, I hope you understand however bad those five years you lost in your self-imposed purgatory were; they pale in comparison to being the guinea pig to the hell you would have gone through with the Intersect program under that butcher Perseus. His first year in charge after I left he literally burned through twenty of the brightest agents before he implemented any of the safety protocols I had issued concerning upload speed. When absorbing all the information the brain needs time to create new neural pathways or override previously discarded ones… Sorry drifting away once again. I'm not sure what I have skipped over."

Stephen finished with a devastated look, thinking he has unloaded a lot of information, but in looking at his son the truth has not set him free, but positioned him as a monster in the same vein as Bryce Larkin. Sarah could easily sense the growing tension in the room; Stephen fully awaiting a deserved explosion and Chuck battling himself as to what or even if he is feeling anything at the moment. The two Bartowski men soon found a yogurt and spoon in their hands. At their combined confused gaze to the spy she shrugged her shoulders before stating, "I doubt either of you are ready to step outside for ice cream and this is all I have."

She looked to Chuck with a gentleness in her eyes that almost made him drop the yogurt and pull her in for a hug. Sarah spotted this and with a raised eyebrow halted his movement, "I know you need more than a few minutes to absorb all of this, but if the CIA had taken you the only scenario where I may have even come across your name was if Ellie and Devon, or Morgan were asking around too much. Which, knowing them, I can easily see happening." Sarah stopped as the haunted look in her eyes told everyone in the room exactly what her mission would entail and neither wanted her to vocalize it for her benefit. This snapped Chuck out of the doldrums as he brought Sarah into his arms and rocked her for a few seconds.

Chuck then looked at his guilt ridden father and swallowed the animosity that would do no good, "So, you are saying by abandoning us you kept the government from using us as pawns to control you."

Stephen looked at his son and tried to imbue the pride he felt for him, "That was a part of it, but if I let them take you and/or your sister they would have devastated your lives. I steered your mother's pay into the master account until the CIA declared her a traitor. I tried to find ways to get money to you two, but they kept passive surveillance on you until you moved out of the house. Once they were convinced I had nothing to do with getting that apartment they left you two alone until your birthday last year."

"Ok and Mom disappeared because of Project X."

"Alexei Volkoff." Sarah's eyes grew wide and after Chuck's mind went to an old wrestler before it settled on the infamous Russian arms dealer his eyes widened as well. "I have spent almost two decades trying to track down all of my past partners. I have finally done so with a number of bumps along the way. I had cracked a number of rogue operations before I happened to luck into finding footage of the man who instigated Project X interrogating a man named Yuri the Gobbler. For a cannibal he actually is quite the portrait artist as the man, whose name I then found out is Decker brought out Yuri's sketchbook and vehemently told him he was never to draw Volkoff's portrait again. Otherwise he would be given a paralytic drug and buried with leeches, worms, and maggots. Before Decker destroyed the drawings I caught a good look and it was Hartley. My initial thought I had been working through all this time was that they had set Hartley up as the head of Fulcrum as that group only started making noticeable moves shortly after he left. Hartley… Volkoff… he has set up an impressive organization that is so convoluted your mother is still trying to identify all the pieces before suppressing Hartley; if she doesn't a number of them are capable of doing horrible things as Volkoff sets them up to be self funding."

"Have you been in touch with her?"

Stephen's face faltered and he quickly looked at both Chuck and Sarah before closing his eyes and shaking his head. The two soon found their hands gripped tightly on the other imagining twenty years apart without a word between them. Stephen opened his eyes and saw the two staring into each other's eyes. He gave them a few moments before he cleared his throat and garnering their attention he continued, "No, but I know she would not leave him or risk contacting the two of you for fear of the Volkoff wrath." Sarah nodded as Volkoff's reputation certainly preceded him. "He has his entire network on a closed system…"

"So, you cannot access it from the outside." Chuck intervened.

"Correct, he has an audio password which I know, but I'd need to access his servers or at the least install the virus I created which will empty out his database."

Something said earlier had stuck with Sarah and with the sudden silence spoke up, "You said you thought Hartley was possibly the head of Fulcrum… do you know who that is?"

"I was coming to that. After the discovery about Volkoff I restarted; tracing his links and not surprisingly knowing his fondness for the Godfather he had a consigliore, who was both his confidante and lawyer. He was kept out of the everyday business, but brokered a number of deals with the person whom I am convinced is the head of Fulcrum. The lawyer also appears to be the other person who was assigned to the Three Amigos; that was a nickname your mother had come up with for our lab group. Riley, as he is known now has also undergone some plastic surgery. Initially I could not find a reason for why Volkoff would need to be dealing with this other person; until I looked at the plans of his new headquarters and research facility." Stephen stopped for a moment and grabbed a folder handing a couple of pieces of paper to both Chuck and Sarah as they scoured them together they both came to the conclusion that they were at least similar if not identical.

"Chuck you have the plans for the Fulcrum Intersect and Sarah you are holding the plans of Ted Roarke's new headquarters." Chuck shook his head mumbling 'no' until Sarah grasped his hand.

"I dreamt of working for Roarke. Coming out of college that was the dream job I always hoped for… you're telling me now that he works for Fulcrum?"

Stephen's eyes drifted down after hearing this last news; with a pat on his knee from Sarah the thing that brought him back however the frown never left his face as he said, "No Chuck. Ted Roarke is Fulcrum. Actually, he was Mitch Kumsteen before an abundance of plastic surgery and hair removal from his head allowed him to become Ted Roarke. Thankfully he still hasn't figured out the most important coding sequence that makes implantation possible without the key otherwise Fulcrum agents would be loaded with their Intersect."

"Key?" Chuck and Sarah asked simultaneously.

"The key acts as a regulator that helps buffer the implant. It was broken down into three pieces that each one of us kept a piece as a sort of safeguard against the CIA or other organization from stealing the Intersect. It was designed to work with a pair of specialized glasses. The glasses were still in the design stage when I left, but they have been created. Without using the key any upload is more dangerous. This brings me to something really important; Chuck you haven't had any headaches or lost time or disturbing dreams, have you?"

Chuck gave it considerable thought before answering, "If there's a long flash, or if I have to do it a few times in a row I will get a bad headache… ow!" Chuck rubbed his arm as he offered a quick look to the pissed off Valkyrie knowing he kept this information from her. The puppy dog eyes were met with the Enforcer's glare and Chuck turned to his dad to continue, "I have not lost time and my dreams have been as equally disturbing as my life, so I don't know how to answer that." Another look to Sarah had her asking without words if his dreams had been bad. Chuck shook his head and Stephen was caught up in his thoughts staring at his watch he did not notice the moment his son and Sarah shared.

Sarah knew that they all needed a break at this moment, if not for the rest of the evening so she got up and placed the DVD she had picked up earlier in the player after tossing the case to Chuck who was on the verge of asking what she was putting in. Chuck choked up a little as did Stephen as he handed the case to his father as suddenly the main screen for TRON was showing on the screen.

Chuck and Sarah relaxed on the bed as Stephen sat next to it. She tried to maintain an interest, but about an hour in the blue hue irritated her enough that she was happier concentrating on watching the awe readily apparent on the faces of both Bartowski men. As it finished the matching grins forced Sarah to have one as well. Turning off the television dampened the mood of the entire room for a few minutes before Chuck decided to speak up, "Dad, I cannot fully forgive you just yet, but from spending this past year as an 'asset' depending on the government's whims," Sarah and Stephen easily noticed the harsh, icy tone his voice took and neither liked it, "If they had control of me without Sarah… you're completely right my life would be considered such only in the broadest biologic terms. That doesn't explain why you were so erratic… unless you were building up your cover, but it seemed so real." Chuck's look broke Stephen's heart which surprised him as he thought it couldn't break anymore.

Stephen put his hands on Chuck's shoulders and stared down at him, "There is a reason I was erratic… and it wasn't to build up the excuse for leaving. Granted it was something that could explain it partially, because there were times when I was a danger to anybody." He paused and decided it was too late to turn back now, "After your successful upload I assumed I was on the right track and since there was no way in hell I was going to run experiments on you… I had to find the right guinea pig."

A silence overtook the room and Sarah's patience was waning stated what neither Bartowski man wanted to, "You uploaded the Intersect on yourself?"

Stephen nodded his head, "I could run simulations, but without a practical application I would not know if it would work… and it needed to as I have assumed since I started this I would only get one crack at getting Hartley back. If it didn't work…"

Sarah visualized the scenario as Stephen vaguely described it and realized Frost would be set up as Volkoff's personal protector, it would be the most appropriate function her skill set would dictate. After an unsuccessful extraction and the whole charade of whatever business was supposed to include be blown up Frost would be stuck with having to shoot one of them. She recognized the doubt on Stephen's face as one Chuck would have when she was placed in a decision of mission or Chuck. Choosing to veer away from this topic that would do nobody in the room any good, "You said you thought you were a danger to anybody?"

Stephen appeared thankful for getting out of his own thoughts, "Right… after uploading I started to work on blocking the Intersect. There was a lot of trial and error; I sometimes lost time, other times memories, but when I reuploaded they returned. However, after a few months I started having some physical effects as well: tremors, migraine headaches, sleepwalking. There were a few times when I made breakfast for you and Eleanor and I have absolutely no recollection of it. I taped it once and it scared the hell out of me; if I had put the wrong thing on the stove the house could have gone up. Without any semblance of controlling it, I could not risk that which ended in a self fulfilling prophecy of sorts as it caused me to work that much harder to try and quicken the amount of time I started to grow a little more reckless which in turn made the symptoms happen more often."

Chuck looked at his father and tried to come up with something to ease the guilt of all the times after he left of calling him a crackpot or since he had noticed the occasional shake, a junkie. "Dad, do you still have the Intersect?" Stephen nodded, "Why not go ahead with the suppression device for Hartley instead of the extraction?"

"The problem comes into not being exactly sure what Mitch did to the program before he installed it into Hartley. I tried to guess what changes he could have made, but without knowing what he did there is a possibility of an embolism or a malfunction. There still exists the remote chance that Mitch did put in a doomsday clock and that it just didn't work. That's why I needed to go with a fullout extraction; especially when I was able to find what my successors were attempting with the Intersect; creating a living computer. The process initially was simpler, but after my first test run resulted in losing my memory for a week I knew I had to proceed cautiously."

"You said that you almost had it completed. What are you missing?" Sarah asked doing her best to hide the concern of Chuck losing his memory.

"The implementation device; while a monitor can accomplish it. Those glasses I had talked about earlier would actually work the best. The problem is DARPA has them and I have to believe they would place some sort of tracking device on them as letting any Scottish hooligan get their hands on them would be problematic as well because somebody could possibly reverse engineer the glasses to begin their own Intersect. The other thing that would make me feel safe with it is a look at Mitch's program. I have to think he used what he created for Hartley as the basis for his Intersect and what went wrong is a reason why Fulcrum still hasn't created a fully functioning Intersect. I know he spent a large portion of that time establishing himself as Ted Roarke…" Stephen drifted away again leaving Chuck sadly looking at his father wondering how much of his brain he destroyed in this quest.

It didn't take long for Sarah to realize the backstory while not complete, was probably as filled in as it was going to get. So she began to formulate some thoughts on accomplishing the endgame that would alleviate the Intersect not only from Chuck, but for two other people as well, bringing down Fulcrum and Volkoff in one fell swoop, reuniting Chuck's parents, and getting this all done before Ellie and Devon's wedding. One idea presented itself front and center to Sarah, "Chuck, Stephen I think there may be a way to get everything done at once, but it's not going to be easy."

When both Bartowski's looked at her in a similar fashion she gave a little smirk, "Neither of you is going to like this first part as we have to reunite Mitch with Orion and have them leave together with Mitch thinking he is in control."

The initial frowns slowly turned into nodding heads as the plan Sarah put out started to get fleshed out by both men. When Sarah's alarm clock blinked out 3:00 AM the three had finished with their final plan strewn across the floor. Stephen was sleeping on the hide-away in the couch while Chuck and Sarah were snuggled together with happy smiles on their faces.

 _ **A/N: As always thanks to those who read and review as well as those that just read while I do like to get feedback I get those that don't because I don't leave nearly enough feedback myself. There are at least a few movie references in here as well as a 70's R &B song. The story has strayed from my original plan, but I do think this change is for the better. There could easily be a few mistakes as I only skimmed through to get this posted and start up on... perhaps the last chapter. Happy holidays.**_


	15. Chapter 15

_**A/N: This has been my longest story in terms of chapters and words. I know I can drag this out for a number of chapters, but I don't think it would really further the story. Initially this was going to be the last chapter, but two things happened: first I misplaced my thumb drive which forced me to revisit this and Mary Bartowski demanded a chapter. This will be done from her point of view and while it may seem out of place I don't think I could have included this within another chapter.**_

 **A Different Kind of Couple**

 _ **Chapter 15**_

Mary Frost was on edge and those around her made sure to grant her a wide berth because in these moments she was almost as unpredictable as the big boss Alexei Volkoff. The chatter that Orion had been captured by Ted Roarke and would be used to finish the Fulcrum Intersect had left her numb. A small part of her was worried about Stephen, but the larger part was mad that not only had he gotten caught he unnecessarily dragged their son into this mess. Alexei dispatched Riley to negotiate for both Orion; Alexei knew Orion was the only person who knew the identity of the only threat to his empire: Project X, and also the price for implanting a number of his agents with this technology.

The arms dealer had also given her an assignment: make sure Orion's helper is unable to continue his mentor's mission. She had refused to go until she heard that detail. Whatever tiny spark inside her that was still Mary Bartowski figuratively bitch slapped the hardened enforcer into readily agreeing. Less than an hour later she was on a transport from Moscow to LA stopping on Volkoff's way station in the Pacific to refuel. Frost took the time to put in a workout as she was trying to formulate a plan to give Alexei what he wanted without harming the only person who loved her unconditionally. She was so lost in the memory of the last story she got to tell her son; the sadness in his eyes still present from accidentally breaking the charm visited her in her worst nights. It finally took one of the guards dousing her with a bucket of water to pull her from the depths of her mind.

Frost decided to use a mad scientist who was unsuccessfully trying to create an airborne weapon that would neutralize people by trapping them with an overwhelming sense of fear as her reason for contact. It was killing two birds with one stone as the scientist's results were not promising and his insistence for more money after the initial fifteen million dollar investment made him the perfect chump. On the plane she contacted him stating that there were other investors that showed an interest and he needed to win them over if he was going to see another ruble from Volkoff. The scientist, Dr. Wheelwright said he needed two days to get to LA with a suitable presentation which gave her the window to find out what foolish nonsense her husband planted in the mind of her Chuck.

A short time dedicated to recon gave Mary a number of answers; however the questions kept proliferating and would not allow her to coolly calculate the best path forward. Granted if she hadn't taken the two hours to tail her daughter, perhaps the picture would be clearer, but in her defense when you hear your daughter is getting married it is difficult to maintain focus and it also now played a part as an objective was now added: by whatever means attending the wedding. That news balanced out the dread from observing Chuck and the succubus attached to his arm, Sarah Walker.

Frost immediately recognized the CIA tart as not only was she one of the top players in the world. She was somebody Alexei had been keeping an eye on for approaching as there were no discernable ties to prevent her from accepting a job in the organization. Volkoff knew he could use a comment on how Walker would look in a black mission suit, preferably with a black wig, to push her and Mary would fall for it every time. Why not? Walker was younger, gorgeous, and completely ruthless. What type of monster straps a baby on her front, as a shield, and waltzes through a barrage of gunfire eventually stashing the child someplace where in a decade she can usurp the girl's inheritance.

The intertwined hands and looks between the two were easily enough to fool a layperson… actually they could probably fool professionals as well since there was no break even when they were completely alone. They could not fool Mary Frost.

Knowing time and other factors were working against her, Mary phoned Chuck. Just briefly talking with her son emotions she had buried were now fervently trying to make their way to the surface, but she maintained her professionalism as she scheduled their meeting at a playground that evening. She could not fully understand where the subsequent rage had come from as she could tell Chuck brought somebody, the harpy, instead of coming alone as she had insisted.

Mary was surprised that Chuck was not surprised by her contacting him. Worried that she had been setup more than she anticipated, Mary gave a more substantial look at the surrounding area rather than repeating the initial cursory look and could still only sense Walker was probably around the jungle gym as it offered the closest cover. Not especially worried about her blonde imitation she chose to continue on pressing Chuck about Wheelwright. Sensing the frustration from her son she stopped for a moment before taking a deep breath and without her filter stopping it asked Chuck, "What he wanted from her?"

His answer of 'He wasn't sure' did little to ease her discomfort as there was no doubt that was a sincere answer. An uneasy silence came over the playground for a few minutes as neither knew how or where to restart the stilted conversation. A shadowy movement caused Mary to unholster her gun and being unsure of Walker's exact whereabouts decided to prove to herself, and her son, the treacherous nature of the beast that never leaves his side. One conclusion she had come to was Chuck could not fake his devotion; he was still somebody who wore his emotions on his sleeve and therefore Walker was simply leading him on and that thought enraged her even more. Chuck's eyes had never been wider than when his mother pointed a gun at his chest and taunted Sarah to show herself.

Mary was shocked when Sarah immediately stepped out with both exposed palms extended from her body and slowly walked towards the pair. Mary shrugged it off and began a diatribe about why Walker and the CIA cannot be trusted, shushing Chuck whenever he attempted to halt her. Mary was now flabbergasted as Chuck stated Sarah had told him every one of those tales and made the mistake of saying of the people here he trusted Sarah the most.

The next few furious moments happened in a blur to anybody save the three people involved. Mary immediately shifted the gun away from Chuck to Sarah and unleashed a guttural moan. Chuck sensing the worst, dove towards his mom and hit her arm before a shot rang out. Sarah initially coiled herself trying to create as small a target as possible; seeing the action rushed forward and quickly looked to inspect Chuck. Seeing no blood calmed Sarah momentarily until her eyes fell upon Frost who had a shocked look upon her face. The shock was quickly replaced by pain as Sarah struck with a right cross and as they say: it was on.

Chuck's rendition of what happened is the two engaged in a battle so intense a small cyclone literally appeared so that Chuck could only make out an occasional appendage and perhaps one out of every ten words that were spoken. The two participants were so clouded in rage they were unaware of anything besides the other until they heard the gun fire once more. The two came to an immediate halt; however both were extremely wary of the other. Any motion would easily set them off again. Chuck's hoarse voice soon compelled the two to step away from the other and allow themselves the opportunity to check on him.

"This was not how the plan was supposed to go," he exasperatedly stated before dropping his head and shaking it.

Sarah rushed towards Chuck; enveloping him in a hug as she apologized. Sarah stepped away to allow room for her to lift his head and they stared into each others' eyes; silently communicating to the chagrin of the other woman present whose feet were seemingly stuck in cement. Mary was able to accept the truth of the connection between the two of them, but couldn't quite decide if the truth was worse than it being a cover.

Eventually the two were able to take their eyes off of the other to realize they were not alone. All three were asking themselves the same question: Why was she still here? Mary finally dropped the pretense about Dr. Wheelwright and asked what happened to your father. Sarah noticed Chuck had a strange reaction to how his mother phrased the question and took a moment, even looking to Sarah asking silent permission to read his mother in on the mission. Sarah went with her initial instinct and gave a quick shake of her head. She almost changed her mind as she saw a familial resemblance as both Chuck and his mother shared a similar pout from her response.

Chuck then almost caused the both of them to have a stroke when he stated that it was time to go back to the apartment and see Ellie. Sarah was about to strenuously object when she noticed for the first time a trace of guilt on Frost's face. Sarah kept staring until Mary looked up and added a touch of fear to what she saw in the older woman. Sarah acquiesced, but insisted for Chuck to call first to warn Ellie. She did not want to find Ellie resorted to some Jeff/Lester type stupor as the woman that abandoned the two of them tried to eke out a moment before she returned to her assignment. Sarah easily recognized Frost's demeanor and attitude and it was that she was on a mission and would not leave it until it was completed.

Chuck normally would have turned away while he made the phone call to Ellie, but he had no idea what would happen between the two if he turned his back on them for an instant. The other two things he noticed were that there were some definite similarities between the two of them and that he would give away Intersect secrets before uttering the first observation aloud.

Thankfully one of the components of the plan was to reveal some of the secrets of the past year to Ellie and Awesome. With so many parts in motion and the immediacy of the plan unfolding; knowledge rather than ignorance would be what keeps them safe. Chuck cast the deciding vote in favor of bringing Casey and eventually Beckman in as well. However before the General was added the two devised certain stipulations that she must adhere to or there would be consequences. After a small glimpse of one of the consequences she readily agreed.

Casey's job, until the last stage, was the protection of the two doctors. He readily agreed and not even Stephen could deny the sincerity when Casey said he would take a bullet for either of them to keep them safe. Obviously the aborted assassination attempt was kept from the two as was the exact nature of how the Intersect operated. Needless to say Ellie's initial reaction to Sarah's true employer brought a frosty chill into the room. To Stephen and Chuck's amazement that was the only fact that she couldn't seemingly get over. It wasn't as if she glossed over everything else as they ran through the gamut of Ellie's emotions and the reactions/outbursts that went along with them as both the past and the plan was laid out. While the chill was no longer present Ellie had yet to talk to Sarah regarding what she had learned.

Ellie took some deep breaths to maintain her composure as she was aware that at some point running into her birthing unit was going to happen. While she still hadn't completely forgiven her father, listening to his story as well as making the choice to allow himself to be captured to free Chuck from the clutches of the government went a long way in her father earning the right to walk her down the aisle. The abrupt nature of Chuck's call informed her that the initial meeting did not go entirely to plan.

Ellie had mixed reactions that Devon was currently at the hospital; he helped keep her calm and meeting her future son-in-law may take some of the awkwardness from the situation… a bit of normalcy in a situation that had little of it. His not being there also kept him from possibly forcing a situation that was best left alone, namely trying to find a way to reconcile the women. While Chuck was the most devastated by their mother leaving, of the three which she included Sarah, Chuck would undoubtedly be the first to forgive. As they went through the plan and possible scenarios Ellie got the feeling she may be second on that list as both the draw of family and a nature more receptive to forgiving gave her two more reasons than Sarah had. It was also readily apparent Sarah had a limit as to how much she trusted Frost.

Sadly that fact drew a small smile on the doctor's face. Her initial thought was to prepare some food and wine for the incoming threesome, but that was soon vetoed as introducing alcohol into this mixture of people would create some amount of destruction. The lack of any preparatory work led Ellie's nerves to take control. The twenty minutes from the phone call to their arrival found her changing her outfit three times, brushing her teeth twice, and contemplating darkening her roots. The saving grace when walking into the living room to find the three of them was her doctoral instincts kicked in as she rushed to the kitchen; grabbing a small ice pack for Sarah's busted lip and a package of frozen peas for her mother's left eye which was just about swollen shut.

Mary tried to say something as her daughter placed something on her eye and moved her hand to hold it in place, but she was gone and back again before anything came out. She caught Ellie briefly speaking to Walker and could see the first weakness from the blonde; she was behaving demurely, obviously not trying to upset her daughter. When Ellie came back to her she was holding a penlight and curtly asked for Mary to follow the light with her eyes as well as she could. Ellie took a longer look at the swollen eye which made for the first words spoken to her daughter in almost two decades to be 'don't worry in a day or two it will be gone'. The three other people in the room were flummoxed by the lack of emotion and the subsequent silence allowed everybody to hear Sarah mumble 'Frost is on the money'.

A sinister and vindictive smile came across the elder agent's face as she saccharinely started up again on Sarah and the stories bandied about within spy circles; this time emphasizing on the multitude of seduction missions and the accompanying sexual situations she reportedly found herself in. Frost finished with a haughty laugh stating that even though she had been plucked more times than the rose of Tralee; Walker's reputation of doing whatever it takes to finish a mission will be commemorated as a porn movie. The smile reached Mary's eyes as concern was reflected in Ellie's. Her concentration caused her to miss what happened within the rest of the room.

Sarah easily seeing the doubt in Ellie's eyes and too frightened to see if Chuck believed these lies tried to silently make her way into Chuck's room, but a sniffle caught the nerd's attention. He tried to grab her, but Sarah easily eluded him and the closing of his bedroom door snapped the other two from their respective thoughts.

The smile on his mother's face faded as she looked at the unbridled anger coursing on Chuck's face. Ellie was surprised for a second until the full breadth of what was spoken hit her. She embraced her brother to calm him down, not only did his face show anger, but also a complete conviction that everything their mother had stated was a boldfaced lie. Initially she attributed it to the simple fact that he was in love with Sarah, but one thing sprouted to the forefront: her reaction to Bryce Larkin. Ellie could not fathom how it would be possible to do half of those items and be traumatized by what Larkin must have done; there was no way she could have done any of those things after the douche. She took another look at Chuck and was more than swayed as she turned to look at their mother and her conviction was less certain.

Chuck tried to break from his sister's grasp to go to Sarah, but Ellie wouldn't relent. "I have to go to Sarah, sis."

Ellie hugged her brother a little harder, "I know you don't want to be in the same room with her right now, but I have to talk to Sarah… I should have before this…"

Chuck eventually nodded his head and Ellie made her way to her brother's bedroom. A quick knock on the door followed by her entering before the possibility of a rejection had Ellie looking at Sarah meekly sitting at the edge of Chuck's bed staring at her hands that were supine on her lap. Sarah's head lifted up as she opened her mouth, "Ch…" came out before Sarah's only response was staring at her.

"You didn't do any of those things." Ellie stated as a fact rather than a question.

Sarah opened her mouth once, but nothing came out. A moment or so later she registered what Ellie had said and her face brightened. Moisture was evident in her eyes as she shook her head, "No, seduction missions were never my thing; besides the key is to gather the information before any actual sex takes place. Once the target has gotten what he wants there's no reason to reveal any information."

Ellie nodded at the logic before asking the question she had no right to ask, "Have you slept with Chuck?" Sarah immediately shook her head. "Why not?" came out of Ellie's mouth as a reflex which left Sarah in a quandary as Ellie made it sound like she wanted her to sleep with her brother. "Sarah, I know you two love each other… Is it because of what Larkin did to you?"

Sarah didn't quite know how to answer that and even though she knew she could trust Ellie there was one secret she still could not share, but she could still be honest, "I have not had sex after Larkin, although I can't really say…"

Ellie immediately found herself sitting next to Sarah and wrapped her in her arms, "I don't need to know any details… and I agree with you if you were trying to say what happened between you two wasn't sex." The two shared a quiet moment where Sarah started to feel shame creep in for allowing emotions to get the better of her while Ellie was thinking the exact opposite as to how Sarah had been able to compartmentalize the trauma and still function at the high degree that Chuck, her father, Casey, and in a completely backhanded way even her mother even stated that.

A loud conversation in the living room stopped Ellie from saying what she fully wanted to, settling for, "I know Chuck is safe with you." The smile she got in response seemed to pacify the both of them as they urgently made their way into the living room.

The surprise was evident on both of their faces as Chuck was looming over his mother demanding an apology. Sarah latched onto Chuck and pulled him away. She turned his body so that he was facing away from his mother and brought their foreheads together. Mary was astonished at the immediate tranquility that showed on both of their faces from the simple connection. She looked over to her daughter and from the delighted look on her face; Mary knew she was now on even dicier ground than before which seemed almost impossible.

It was arguably the longest fifteen minutes of Mary's life; watching her daughter shift from unadulterated glee when looking at the couple to the glare of one thousand daggers when Ellie's gaze would move towards her. Mary's other choice was to watch the couple and that left her stomach unsettled. The spy part of her was curious as to what her children knew about Walker to completely disregard the lie she told. One thing was obvious to her and that was if there was any remote chance of any semblance of a relationship with her children she would need to put her dislike for Walker on the backburner. Hopefully the plan that Chuck alluded to briefly before she interrupted with another story that brought a suspicion of Sarah's veracity resulted in her son yelling at her.

Both Walker and Chuck were calm as they went to his bedroom for a moment before they came back with the Tron poster. A confused look overshadowed the corners of Mary's mouth turning upward at the sight of the poster. They placed it on the dining table and Ellie walked over and soon the three were staring at her again until she stood and warily moved towards the table. As she approached she could see that the back of the poster was facing up with an extensive amount of writing covering it.

Chuck did his best to explain the plan, but there were a number of details that he wasn't able to elucidate. He looked over to Sarah who gave some signal and Chuck would sigh and continue. After the third time Mary couldn't hold back the huff as she wondered how this milquetoast could be the same Sarah Walker. After Mary shook her head at that thought she opened her eyes and found the Enforcer's glare boring into her and Mary understood Sarah was remaining quiet for Chuck and Ellie's sake.

Mary closed her eyes and clenched her jaw; she had a general understanding of the plan and at first glance it looked solid. However there were concerns and there was only one person to address them. While it may seem an obvious choice to most between satisfying your ego versus an attempt to not only possibly reestablish a relationship with your estranged family, virtually bringing back a long lost friend, and putting an end to one of the largest threats facing America; Mary Frost was not an obvious person. A tiny voice in the back of her mind reminded her that she was also Mary Bartowski and what choice would she make.

"Sarah while you have no reason to accept my apology; I am sorry for what I said about you. I understand the generalities of the plan and it looks good, but I do have some concerns and I think you are the only one who can address those concerns…"

 _ **A/N: Thanks to those reading this and I think this chapter helps explain some of the animosity that may pop up in the next chapter. Hope everybody has a safe and Happy New Year.**_


	16. Chapter 16

_**A/N: A short one; do not own Chuck and thanks to everybody who has read, followed, and reviewed. Hope I can finish this off strong.**_

 **A Different Kind of Couple**

 **Chapter 16**

Chuck took a deep breath as he gazed at the most beautiful sight he could recall; Sarah sleeping peacefully beside him on an airplane taking them to their vacation that they had earned ten times over. He forced himself not to run his hand over her face for fear of awakening her. The past month had been exhausting in every possible way; from his aborted assassination attempt to Sarah's confession, the reunion with his father, learning the truth behind his disappearance, making a plan, and having it be almost blown to hell by his mother and finally cobbling something together by the skin of their teeth which allowed the 'good guys' to survive, but nothing would ever be close to being the same ever again. The question is whether that is a good or bad thing is yet to be determined, but those in the States will have to deal with it.

The plan was at its essence relatively simple: father gets kidnapped to complete work on the Fulcrum Intersect when he actually is finalizing the extraction program. Once it is ready he sends out the go signal: midnight showing of Tron. His mother is to bring Volkoff which was the key to the 'raid' with their group attempting a rescue of Orion. Then in one broad stroke the three recipients of an Intersect will have it taken away while simultaneously knocking out those who don't have an Intersect. Initially the thought was to implant something more destructive, but neither Chuck nor Stephen were entirely comfortable with that; especially if one of the 'good guys' accidentally got zapped. Beckman backed off very quickly after that… a little too quickly looking back upon it, but collaborating on the other aspects of the plan took precedence. Once the Fulcrum stooges were knocked out simply collect them, pass go, collect the $200, and wave being a subhuman asset goodbye… Sarah let Chuck know that the Government had in fact kept a tally of his 'good works' and there was a paycheck with his name on it somewhere.

The implementation is where it can get tricky; one good thing about dealing with a number of alphas is that their responses can be somewhat predictable. The downfall is that you don't necessarily know who will break first or when. The why's usually boil down to feeling underutilized or overestimating their ability to divert from the script and not affect the outcome negatively. In this case the alpha females were the ones to break rank. One of the few positive outcomes of it was Ellie now had a greater appreciation of how bad a relationship with a 'mother-in-law' can be after hearing the story.

If all the pieces weren't in play yet a diversion to provide more time and protect Frost's loyalty was to shoot Chuck. At the time Frost chose to enact there was no reason to do so. Mitch/Roarke was delivering his tribute to _The Warriors,_ the prophet speech, in front of a drive-in theater screen to throngs of Fulcrum operatives. The rest of the major players were in the projection room: Volkoff, Stephen, Mary, Casey, Sarah, and Chuck. There were three goons, but Roan was leading a crew that established a perimeter making sure nobody slipped out. The beep on Chuck's watch informed those in the know that the perimeter was secured and that also was when Frost struck. Ranting about protecting Alexei she demanded to know what the beep was about and as Chuck looked on dumbstruck his mom fired two in his chest. The plan had only called for one and when Sarah heard the second shot she was off. Frost managed to squeeze another shot off grazing Sarah's arm before the blonde ninja was pummeling the brunette.

Mitch had made his way back to the room as the echo of the third shot was dissipating and seeing the two women fighting on the floor was distracted as he was busy activating his phone's video app. He chose to make a disparaging remark to Stephen if Frost used fighting as foreplay with him as she had with both him and Volkoff. The room quieted at that and even the women paused as Frost shook her head, clearing the cobwebs, and looked at Stephen with sorrowful eyes for a brief moment until she took another swing at Sarah who ducked it and followed with an uppercut, right hand to the jaw combo that resounded with a crack that announced Frost's jaw was broken. Stephen took the moment to throw a haymaker at Mitch who in the midst of falling disrupted the table that held the cube and computer hooked up to project the images from it and ended up across the room on top of some stacked chairs. Casey went over to Stephen and tried to bring him back to the plan. Sarah was checking on Chuck, Volkoff was checking on Frost and the other three goons were talking amongst themselves as to which one should 'take charge' when another shot rang out. With a wide-eyed fanatical look Mitch tumbled from the chairs laughing and holding a gun.

Casey knew he couldn't take his eyes off of Roarke for a second as that fall brought back memories from his childhood sneaking out of his room to watch late night television. John saw the gun and even the muzzle flash, knowing Orion had no vest he dove in front of him and took the bullet. The room quieted once again until Roarke slapped one of his goons to straighten out the computer and cube. The computer magnate walked over to Orion and pointed the gun in his face and the room was stunned when Orion laughed, "That's a bb gun."

"Don't mock this; the pellet can get lodged under the skin and cause a nasty infection. Besides it's well past the time to test the Intersect and see if you can get something right." Roarke snarled.

Casey grimaced slightly as he felt the entry point in his right tricep. Sarah brought Chuck up with his only words were that 'his heart hurt'. Frost was completely knocked out so when everything was announced as ready Volkoff left her on the ground as he was not going to allow others to have the upper hand in this technology. The cube started to 'whirr' which was the cue for Sarah and Casey to close their eyes. Before she did she gave Chuck a brief kiss, but despite the lack of duration the intensity and passion within it dwarfed their first kiss in front of the Brycebomb. She allowed herself a glance at Chuck before closing her eyes and couldn't hide the smile from his slightly dazed look. Chuck gazed upon the peaceful look and realized he needed to use the Intersect one more time.

Chuck felt Sarah stir and tried to decide upon whether to fake being asleep, or just waking up, or quickly pulling out the PSP in his pocket… and he clearly missed his opportunity as his angel was blinking at him.

"Chuck, were you watching me sleep?"

"Uhh, Sarah, I was uhh, just going over things."

Sarah nodded and asked, "Where are you at in the story?"

"The cube just started and we kissed." The both of them slightly blushed, but a serious look came over Sarah's face and Chuck was shocked when he felt her punch land in his right pectoral.

"Sarah, what was that for?"

"Choosing to flash at that time… I didn't even know you could do that, but at that time and after what happened to you the last time when you flashed on it and with the extraction. You had no idea what it would do to you. If anything happened to you…"

Chuck sighed; it was a strictly impulsive move and it could have turned out in so many wrong ways. Granted a twelve hour coma wasn't a picnic especially after explaining some of the details. Sarah was the only one who knew he intentionally focused on _Pygmalion_ ; the others were told he had no idea what triggered the flash. "Sarah, I had to try. It was the last opportunity and it did work didn't it?"

Sarah pouted, there was no use going over all the potential ways it could have turned out again. It would depress her and she did not want to waste time on the 'what if's' when they were spending six months in Europe. "You're lucky, and perhaps be a little scared that I can decipher your mumblings. To be honest I never wanted to tell you my birth name, I've never liked it."

"Sarah, you said it when you… unveiled yourself. I was impressed that you remembered the three account numbers. Granted with my government check and your stashes the money in the first one was probably the least important. The second one with your ID and assorted paperwork was crucial with the third one that had the phone numbers of the doctors and the case numbers that were already started for you."

"Despite that I can't forgive Graham for almost taking you away from me." Sarah sighed, reaching up and angling Chuck down to her.

"At least he brought you to me in the first place… it cannot be comfortable with me on top of you… you know what I mean…" Sarah's giggles were soon joined by Chuck's as he brought the both of them up. "Actually that has me thinking about something completely unrelated. Did they really just simply accept your resignation? That is a huge step and you are the best."

"Well since the new director wasn't read in on Project Intersect and having me disregard him when we went to DC. Wasting a supposedly top CIA agent with babysitting a potential asset for over a year and also trying to establish his own identity I was on my way to persona non grata status. He would have been more than happy for this assignment to last another four years."

Chuck thought about it for a second, "But wasn't the douche that shall not be named also associated with Graham? Not only does he get some credit in taking down Fulcrum he gets to be the host of the latest Intersect. It makes no sense."

Sarah closed her eyes before taking a slow deep breath and responding, "Beckman screwed herself; your plan worked perfectly. All the Fulcrum operatives were knocked out; Hartley was back, but disorientated; your father a little less so, and you and your mother were out. Casey carried you, your dad carried your mom and I helped out Hartley. Due to your condition we left after getting in the Crown Vic, but could hear the bombers making their run. I put on a com when I heard the bombers and according to many this was the only time Roan lost his cool. They barely got themselves out of there before the bombs hit. The conjecture is Roarke was awakened from his stupor from the first run and that was how he was able to escape. The second run made it impossible for them to keep a lid on it. She is stuck in congressional hearings for the next few months. As for that other person getting credit… do you remember what I told you when you whined about not being able to brag about the things you did?"

"First I wouldn't call it whining and wanting to brag is kind of an exaggeration… ok maybe not that big of one, and yes. You said that I knew and then teased me saying that you knew too."

"Plaques, ribbons, medals all are nice things that can show off your accomplishments to others, but if that is the reason fueling you; it will eventually come back to bite you. Especially if you use other people and never acknowledge their part. Bryce will get his comeuppance, putting a bullet in Roarke's head did stop him from destroying Ellie's wedding, but I just have a bad feeling killing Roarke, without getting a chance to question him left a number of puzzle pieces off of the board."

"Well hopefully this is the last time we have to talk about the Brycetard. You know my dad agreed on doing the 2.0 and then he is completely out. While it will be able to trigger abilities, he has also installed a special item only for our old buddy. While there are arguments about the reliability of chemical castration, I guess a mental one should be more thorough as it affects his entire body rather than merely his unit."

Sarah took a moment to flush the thoughts Larkin brings up with even a hint, "Going back to the more important aspect; you are a hero Charles Irving Bartowski, you're my hero." Sarah blushed a little after admitting it and Chuck got lost wondering how she kept surpassing the moment he thought she was the most beautiful.

 **Two weeks later**

Chuck was looking out the hotel room window at the Eiffel Tower as the sun was starting to set when he heard the door open. "Sarah how did the meetings go today?"

"They went well actually they are almost set to proceed… I know you're squeamish about the surgeries, but I was hoping you could come with me for my next group." Chuck scrunched his face, "You don't have to go to them all, but the psychiatrist wants to talk to us together as well as you separately. The surgeon wants to see you for a moment as well," came out barely above a whisper and as Chuck was trying to piece together what she had added after the psychiatrist Sarah asked about the Awesome's honeymoon.

Chuck brightened for a second before a detail Ellie purposely shared that she knew would mortify him popped into his head. Sarah giggled as she recognized the look on Chuck's face, "That good, huh?"

Chuck nodded his head and regained the power of speech, "Yes, apparently they were able to manage to make it outside of their hotel room on one of their nights," Chuck's stomach gurgled at his turn of phrase, "Ellie wants to challenge you to a dance off when we get back… I know I should tell her that we are going to be here for a few months, but first she was on her honeymoon, now she's just back the timing is completely off."

Sarah walked over and placed herself on Chuck's lap allowing her fingers to roam through Chuck's hair quelling the nervous energy he was filled with. "Any other interesting news?"

"Casey's back."

This stunned Sarah enough to lift her head from her designated perch on Chuck's collarbone and stare at him. Chuck gave a kiss to snap her out of it and her raised eyebrow let him know her mind was formulating and he needed to head it off before the pass, "No, nothing bad. It turns out he went back to his old platoon and there was a mole in it. On a mission things went sideways and the mole exposed himself… seriously Sarah, I still can't believe you don't think you have a sense of humor. Casey caught one in the leg… he is using a brace, but I guess one of Beckman's last acts was to secure the apartment for Casey ad infinitum. My parents went on a date last week which went about as strained as you could imagine. Actually Dad has swung to your side in that Mitch may have uploaded her with an Intersect as well."

"I thought it made the most sense, but then again maybe I'm hoping for a personality shift that at least modifies her personality to mere disdain from wanting to maim me every time she sees me."

"While that may be a viable reason; I think it's because you are a good person and you want Ellie and me to have the mother that we remember beyond the abandonment issue. Since you are my hero." Sarah buried herself a little further into Chuck's neck, "So why does the surgeon want to see me?"

Sarah shyly smiled, "When you answered 'the usual' or 'average' to him, he wants some more exact figures in order to make certain there aren't any complications when I'm ready… I also told him that you were being humble…"

"But Sarah, you've never seen…" Sarah's lifted eyebrow answered she didn't have to see it, "I'm sorry. Why didn't you tell me? Were you uncomfortable? Do I have to go in like that or can I bring in some measurements?"

Sarah shushed his babbling, "I think the measurements are probably the best situation, although if Jill Roberts handled your manhood I cannot believe you would object to a physician doing so."

"Oh boy."

 **Five Months Later**

The Arrival Terminal at LAX was jammed as usual, but Stephen was able to easily identify his son and soon to be daughter-in-law, if he knew it wasn't possible he'd swear there was a bright aura surrounding them. The video of his proposal on the Eiffel Tower was a big hit on YouTube and one his daughter would watch a few times every week. As one of the few people who knew Sarah's secret he made sure the others didn't press about when they were returning from their European sojourn. She needed time to heal and they needed the time and space to be there for one another.

While Sarah's suggestion about Mary having been Intersected was correct and having it removed caused a subtle, but noticeable shift in her personality. Despite that there wasn't going to be a fairy tale ending for the two of them; too much water under the bridge. While the awkwardness surprisingly disappeared soon after the extraction during their five hour, what could best be characterized as a yell-fest in the basement of their house. A number of issues were explained, but it was obvious neither was nearly the same from when they separated and while both hoped to reconnect neither was looking to press the issue.

While Mary stayed at the house, Stephen would split time there, in Chuck's room with Ellie and Devon, and every once in a while at Casey's when the newlyweds needed their time alone. He also knew about Casey's order and did hold that against the Colonel until he threw himself in front of Mitch's bullet. The fact that it was a bb gun did not take away from the moment and a strange friendship was formed. While Casey's ex and daughter may not have appreciated the chicken pepperoni, they were more so from a few reports Orion was able to obtain that weren't fully redacted, he did block out Chuck and Sarah's names, which showed Casey as the hero he tried to be. Surprisingly that relationship, after the initial whirlwind of emotions and shoe throwing, has slowly grown to where many of the nights Stephen heads to Casey's he is there alone.

The 2.0 was a success by all accounts, but Stephen tries not to think about some of the modifications. The sexual dysfunction one was not nearly enough of a punishment, however if you were to say Bryce Larkin 2.0 was a completely different man than before you would be correct. He erased the memories of Sarah's dysmorphia, but kept images of him forcing himself upon her. The conscience that came with Larkin's Intersect made him more thoughtful; that combined with the increased skill actually made him into a spy that cared as much about collateral damage as accomplishing the mission. His success; however made the Intersect a greater commodity in spy circles and agencies all over the world were beginning to clamor for their own versions. He feared there were two choices in front of him once again and neither was an option that was one he could have any pride with.

The maudlin feeling was drained as he felt two pairs of arms wrap around him. The warmth immediately turned his frown upside down as he attempted to return the comfort. "John's outside with the Crown Vic. Don't worry I will be sitting up front with him, but he did say he was going to take a black light to the back seat after we get you to the apartment."

Sarah sported a dangerous smile and Chuck's gulp brought the first genuine laugh Stephen had since… He had no idea when the last time was as he suddenly found the three of them heading to pick up their luggage. Somehow he was in between the two and quickly remedied it by placing their hands next to each other and stepping back. After they looked back with a tad of disappointment, Stephen shrugged and pointed to their hands. Now with their fingers intertwined the aura was back in place as he walked closely behind them; basking in the obvious glow of love.

 _ **A/N: I threw in my normal epilogue into the chapter rather than a stand alone. Both the story and the journey beyond the story have been an interesting experience. If it feels a little forced, I can understand it does to me as well, but this was the way that this chapter appealed to me the most. I think I have addressed all the people of import except Roan and Beckman. Beckman was allowed to retire and Roan eventually followed. The two choices that Stephen is contemplating are to disappear again or eliminate Bryce with a glitch from the Intersect making it less appealing. I didn't want to dwell on that any longer than I had as again it doesn't really fit with the Charah aspect. Thanks to all that have read, reviewed, followed, and favorite; you are the best. There is another story that I have started and yet to finish which is what I am going to work on next. I may revisit the two chapters already published**_ , _ **but I may try to get the majority of chapters done before putting them out because there is a specific way I want each chapter to start and if I cannot do it for all I may change it once again.**_


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